Professional Documents
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Mathematics
An Open Introduction
Oscar Levin
2nd Edition
Oscar Levin
School of Mathematical Science
University of Northern Colorado
Greeley, Co 80639
oscar.levin@unco.edu
http://math.oscarlevin.com/
2nd Edition
ISBN-10: 1534970746
ISBN-13: 978-1534970748
This book would not exist if not for “Discrete and Combinatorial Mathemat-
ics” by Richard Grassl and Tabitha Mingus. It is the book I learned discrete
math out of, and taught out of the semester before I began writing this text. I
wanted to maintain the inquiry based feel of their book but update, expand
and rearrange some of the material. Some of the best exposition and exercises
here were graciously donated from this source.
Thanks to Alees Seehausen who co-taught the Discrete Mathematics
course with me in 2015 and helped develop many of the Investigate! activities
and other problems currently used in the text. She also offered many sugges-
tions for improvement of the expository text, for which I am quite grateful.
Thanks also to Katie Morrison and Nate Eldredge for their suggestions after
using parts of this text in their class.
While odds are that there are still errors and typos in the current book,
there are many fewer thanks to the work of Michelle Morgan over the summer
of 2016.
The book is now available in an interactive online format, and this is
entirely thanks to the work of Rob Beezer and David Farmer along with the
rest of the participants of the mathbook-xml-support group. Thanks for
Finally, a thank you to the numerous students who have pointed out typos
and made suggestions over the years and a thanks in advance to those who
will do so in the future.
v
vi
Preface
vii
viii
examples and exercises that rely on earlier material, but I have tried to keep
these to a minimum and usually can either be skipped or understood without
too much additional study. If you are an instructor, feel free to edit the LATEX
or Mathbook XML source to fit your needs.
This current 2nd edition brings a few major improvements, as well as lots
of minor corrections. The highlights include:
• Some of the material from chapter 3 (on logic) is now part of an intro-
duction section on mathematical statements.
• Behind the scenes, the source of the text transitioned from LATEX to
Mathbook XML, which allows for conversion to LATEX as well as the
creation of an interactive online version.
The previous Fall 2015 edition was essentially the first edition of the book.
I had previously compiled many of the sections in a book format for easy
distribution, but those were mostly just lecture notes and exercises (there
was no index or Investigate problems; very little in the way of consistent
formatting).
My intent is to compile a new edition prior to each fall semester which
incorporate additions and corrections suggested by instructors and students
who use the text the previous semesters. Thus I encourage you to send along
any suggestions and comments as you have them.
Oscar Levin, Ph.D.
University of Northern Colorado, 2016
How to use this book
In addition to expository text, this book has a few features designed to en-
courage you to interact with the mathematics.
Investigate! activities
Examples
Exercises
You get good at math through practice. Each section concludes with
a small number of exercises meant to solidify concepts and basic skills pre-
sented in that section. At the end of each chapter, a larger collection of similar
exercises is included (as a sort of “chapter review”) which might bridge mate-
rial of different sections in that chapter. Many exercise have a hint, answer or
full solution (which in the pdf version of the text can be found by clicking on
the exercises number—clicking on the solution number will bring you back to
the exercise). Readers are encouraged to try these exercises before looking at
the solution. When I teach with this book, I assign these exercises as practice
and then use them, or similar problems, on quizzes and exams. There are
ix
x
Acknowledgements v
Preface vii
1 Counting 41
1.1 Additive and Multiplicative Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Counting With Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Principle of Inclusion/Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
1.2 Binomial Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Subsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Bit Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Lattice Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Binomial Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Pascal’s Triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
1.3 Combinations and Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
1.4 Combinatorial Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Patterns in Pascal’s Triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
More Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
xi
xii Contents
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
1.5 Stars and Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
1.6 Advanced Counting Using PIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Counting Derangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Counting Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
1.7 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
2 Sequences 111
2.1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
2.2 Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Sums of Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences . . . . . . . . . 123
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
2.3 Polynomial Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
2.4 Solving Recurrence Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Characteristic Root Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
2.5 Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Formalizing Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Strong Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
2.6 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Index 327
xiv Contents
Chapter 0
1
2 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
Investigate!
Note: Throughout the text you will see Investigate! activities like this one.
Answer the questions in these as best you can to give yourself a feel for what
is coming next.
2. At the warm-up event for Oscar’s All Star Hot Dog Eating Con-
test, Al ate one hot dog. Bob then showed him up by eating
three hot dogs. Not to be outdone, Carl ate five. This continued
with each contestant eating two more hot dogs than the previ-
ous contestant. How many hot dogs did Zeno (the 26th and final
contestant) eat? How many hot dogs were eaten all together?
3. After excavating for weeks, you finally arrive at the burial cham-
ber. The room is empty except for two large chests. On each is
carved a message (strangely in English):
4. Back in the days of yore, five small towns decided they wanted
to build roads directly connecting each pair of towns. While
the towns had plenty of money to build roads as long and as
winding as they wished, it was very important that the roads
not intersect with each other (as stop signs had not yet been
invented). Also, tunnels and bridges were not allowed. Is it
possible for each of these towns to build a road to each of the
four other towns without creating any intersections?
Investigate!
While walking through a fictional forest, you encounter three trolls
guarding a bridge. Each is either a knight, who always tells the truth,
or a knave, who always lies. The trolls will not let you pass until you
correctly identify each as either a knight or a knave. Each troll makes
a single statement:
• 42 is a perfect square.
• 3 + 7 12
• 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + · · · + 2n + 1.
• Go to your room!
• 3 + x 12
Note that we can break this down into two smaller statements. The two
shorter statements are connected by an “and.” We will consider 5 connectives:
“and” (Sam is a man and Chris is a woman), “or” (Sam is a man or Chris is
a woman), “if. . . , then. . . ” (if Sam is a man, then Chris is a woman), “if and
0.2. Mathematical Statements 5
only if” (Sam is a man if and only if Chris is a woman), and “not” (Sam is not a
man). The first four are called binary connectives (because they connect two
statements) while “not” is an example of a unary connective (since it applies
to a single statement).
Which connective we use to modify statement(s) will determine the truth
value of the molecular statement (that is, whether the statement is true or
false), based on the truth values of the statements being modified. It is
important to realize that we do not need to know what the parts actually say,
only whether those parts are true or false. So to analyze logical connectives,
it is enough to consider propositional variables (sometimes called sentential
variables), usually capital letters in the middle of the alphabet: P, Q, R, S, . . ..
These are variables that can take on one of two values: T or F. We also have
symbols for the logical connectives: ∧, ∨, →, ↔, ¬.
Logical Connectives
Note that for us, or is the inclusive or (and not the sometimes used exclusive
or) meaning that P ∨ Q is in fact true when both P and Q are true. As for
the other connectives, “and” behaves as you would expect, as does negation.
The biconditional (if and only if) might seem a little strange, but you should
think of this as saying the two parts of the statements are equivalent. This
leaves only the conditional P → Q which has a slightly different meaning in
6 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
Implications
Implications
P→Q
This is a reasonable way to think about implications: our claim is that the
conclusion (“then” part) is true, but on the assumption that the hypothesis
(“if” part) is true. We make no claim about the conclusion in situations when
the hypothesis is false.
Still, it is important to remember that an implication is a statement, and
therefore is either true or false. The truth value of the implication is deter-
mined by the truth values of its two parts. To agree with the usage above, we
say that an implication is true either when the hypothesis is false, or when
the conclusion is true. This leaves only one way for an implication to be false:
when the hypothesis is true and the conclusion is false.
0.2. Mathematical Statements 7
Example 0.2.2
Consider the statement:
If Bob gets a 90 on the final, then Bob will pass the class.
Example 0.2.3
Decide which of the following statements are true and which are false.
Briefly explain.
1. 0 1 → 1 1
Solution. All four of the statements are true. Remember, the only
way for an implication to be false is for the if part to be true and the
then part to be false.
3. I have no idea what the 7624th digit of π is, but this does not
matter. Since the hypothesis is false, the implication is automat-
ically true.
Example 0.2.4
Prove: If two numbers a and b are even, then their sum a + b is even.
Solution. Suppose the numbers a and b are even. This means that
a 2k and b 2j for some integers k and j. The sum is then
a + b 2k + 2j 2(k + j). Since k + j is an integer, this means that
a + b is even.
Notice that since we get to assume the hypothesis of the implica-
tion we immediately have a place to start. The proof proceeds essen-
tially by repeatedly asking and answering, “what does that mean?”
This sort of argument shows up outside of math as well. If you ever found
yourself starting an argument with “hypothetically, let’s assume ,” then you
have attempted a direct proof of your desired conclusion.
Since implications are so prevalent in mathematics, we have some special
language to help discuss them:
0.2. Mathematical Statements 9
Example 0.2.5
True or false: If you draw any nine playing cards from a regular deck,
then you will have at least three cards all of the same suit. Is the
converse true?
Solution. True. The original implication is a little hard to analyze
because there are so many different combinations of nine cards. But
consider the contrapositive: If you don’t have at least three cards all
of the same suit, then you don’t have nine cards. It is easy to see why
this is true: you can at most have two cards of each of the four suits,
for a total of eight cards (or fewer).
The converse: If you have at least three cards all of the same suit,
then you have nine cards. This is false. You could have three spades
and nothing else. Note that to demonstrate that the converse (an
implication) is false, we provided an example where the hypothesis
is true (you do have three cards of the same suit), but where the
conclusion is false (you do not have nine cards).
10 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
4. What would happen if Sue does not get an A but did get a 93%
on the final? Then P would be true and Q would be false. This
makes the implication P → Q false! It must be that Sue did
not get a 93% on the final. Notice now we have the implication
¬Q → ¬P which is the contrapositive of P → Q. Since P → Q
is assumed to be true, we know ¬Q → ¬P is true as well.
If and only if
You can think of “if and only if” statements as having two parts: an
implication and its converse. We might say one is the “if” part, and the other
is the “only if” part. We also sometimes say that “if and only if” statements
have two directions: a forward direction (P → Q) and a backwards direction
(P ← Q, which is really just sloppy notation for Q → P).
Let’s think a little about which part is which. Is P → Q the “if” part or
the “only if” part? Perhaps we should look at an example:
Example 0.2.7
Suppose it is true that I sing if and only if I’m in the shower. We know
this means both that if I sing, then I’m in the shower, and also the
converse, that if I’m in the shower, then I sing. Let P be the statement,
“I sing,” and Q be, “I’m in the shower.” So P → Q is the statement
“if I sing, then I’m in the shower.” Which part of the if and only if
statement is this?
What we are really asking is what is the meaning of “I sing if I’m
in the shower” and “I sing only if I’m in the shower.” When is the first
one (the “if” part) false? When I am in the shower but not singing.
That is the same condition on being false as the statement “if I’m in
the shower, then I sing.” So the “if” part is Q → P. On the other
hand, to say, “I sing only if I’m in the shower” is equivalent to saying
“if I sing, then I’m in the shower,” so the “only if” part is P → Q.
It is not terribly important to know which part is the “if” or “only if” part,
but this does get at something very, very important: there are many ways to state
an implication! The problem is, since these are all different ways of saying the
same implication, we cannot use truth tables to analyze the situation. Instead,
we just need good English skills.
Example 0.2.8
Rephrase the implication, “if I dream, then I am asleep” in as many
different ways as possible. Then do the same for the converse.
Solution. The following are all equivalent to the original implica-
tion:
1. I am asleep if I dream.
12 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
1. I dream if I am asleep.
Hopefully you agree with the above example. We include the “necessary
and sufficient” versions because those are common when discussing mathe-
matics. In fact, let’s agree once and for all what they mean:
To be honest, I have trouble with these if I’m not very careful. I find it
helps to have an example in mind:
Example 0.2.9
Recall from calculus, if a function is differentiable at a point c, then
it is continuous at c, but that the converse of this statement is not
true (for example, f (x) |x| at the point 0). Restate this fact using
“necessary and sufficient” language.
Solution. It is true that in order for a function to be differentiable
at a point c, it is necessary for the function to be continuous at c.
However, it is not necessary that a function be differentiable at c for
it to be continuous at c.
0.2. Mathematical Statements 13
Thinking about the necessity and sufficiency of conditions can also help
when writing proofs and justifying conclusions. If you want to establish some
mathematical fact, it is helpful to think what other facts would be enough (be
sufficient) to prove your fact. If you have an assumption, think about what
must also be necessary if that hypothesis is true.
Quantifiers
Investigate!
Consider the statement below. Decide whether any are equivalent to
each other, or whether any imply any others.
P(n) → ¬P(n + 7)
where P(n) means “n is prime.” But this is not quite right. For one thing,
because this sentence has a free variable (that is, a variable that we have not
specified anything about), it is not a statement. Now, if we plug in a specific
value for n, we do get a statement. In fact, it turns out that no matter what
value we plug in for n, we get a true implication. What we really want to say
is that for all values of n, if n is prime, then n + 7 is not. We need to quantify
the variable.
Although there are many types of quantifiers in English (e.g., many, few,
most, etc.) in mathematics we, for the most part, stick to two: existential and
universal.
14 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
The existential quantifier is ∃ and is read “there exists” or “there is.” For
example,
∃x(x < 0)
asserts that there is a number less than 0.
The universal quantifier is ∀ and is read “for all” or “every.” For
example,
∀x(x ≥ 0)
asserts that every number is greater than or equal to 0.
You would read this, “for every x there is some y such that y is less than x.”
Is this true? The answer depends on what our domain of discourse is: when
we say “for all” x, do we mean all positive integers or all real numbers or all
elements of some other set? Usually this information is implied. In discrete
mathematics, we almost always quantify over the natural numbers, 0, 1, 2, , so
let’s take that for our domain of discourse here.
For the statement to be true, we need it to be the case that no matter what
natural number we select, there is always some natural number that is strictly
smaller. Perhaps we could let y be x − 1? But here is the problem: what if
x 0? Then y −1 and that is not a number! (in our domain of discourse).
Thus we see that the statement is false because there is a number which is
less than or equal to all other numbers. In symbols,
∃x∀y(y ≥ x).
To show that the original statement is false, we proved that the negation
was true. Notice how the negation and original statement compare. This is
typical.
Essentially, we can pass the negation symbol over a quantifier, but that
causes the quantifier to switch type. This should not be surprising: if not
everything has a property, then something doesn’t have that property. And
0.2. Mathematical Statements 15
if there is not something with a property, then everything doesn’t have that
property.
Exercises
1. Classify each of the sentences below as an atomic statement, and molecular
statement, or not a statement at all. If the statement is molecular, say what
kind it is (conjuction, disjunction, conditional, biconditional, negation).
(a) The sum of the first 100 odd positive integers.
(b) Everybody needs somebody sometime.
(c) The Broncos will win the Super Bowl or I’ll eat my hat.
(d) We can have donuts for dinner, but only if it rains.
(e) Every natural number greater than 1 is either prime or composite.
(f) This sentence is false.
2. Suppose P and Q are the statements: P: Jack passed math. Q: Jill passed
math.
(a) Translate “Jack and Jill both passed math” into symbols.
(b) Translate “If Jack passed math, then Jill did not” into symbols.
(c) Translate “P ∨ Q” into English.
(d) Translate “¬(P ∧ Q) → Q” into English.
(e) Suppose you know that if Jack passed math, then so did Jill. What can
you conclude if you know that:
i. Jill passed math?
ii. Jill did not pass math?
4. Consider the statement “If Oscar eats Chinese food, then he drinks milk.”
(a) Write the converse of the statement.
(b) Write the contrapositive of the statement.
16 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
(c) Is it possible for the contrapositive to be false? If it was, what would that
tell you?
(d) Suppose the original statement is true, and that Oscar drinks milk. Can
you conclude anything (about his eating Chinese food)? Explain.
(e) Suppose the original statement is true, and that Oscar does not drink
milk. Can you conclude anything (about his eating Chinese food)?
Explain.
6. Consider the implication, “if you clean your room, then you can watch
TV.” Rephrase the implication in as many ways as possible. Then do the same
for the converse.
Hint. Of course there are many answers. It helps to assume that the state-
ment is true and the converse is note true. Think about what that means in
the real world and then start saying it in different ways. Some ideas: Use
“necessary and sufficient” language, use “only if,” consider negations, use
“or else” language.
7. Translate into symbols. Use E(x) for “x is even” and O(x) for “x is odd.”
(a) No number is both even and odd.
(b) One more than any even number is an odd number.
(c) There is prime number that is even.
(d) Between any two numbers there is a third number.
(e) There is no number between a number and one more than that number.
0.3. Sets 17
9. Suppose P(x) is some predicate for which the statement ∀xP(x) is true.
Is it also the case that ∃xP(x) is true? In other words, is the statement
∀xP(x) → ∃xP(x) always true? Is the converse always true? Explain.
10. For each of the statements below, give a domain of discourse for which
the statement is true, and a domain for which the statement is false.
(a) ∀x∃y(y 2 x).
(b) ∀x∀y∃z(x < z < y).
(c) ∃x∀y∀z(y < z → y ≤ x ≤ z) Hint: domains need not be infinite.
0.3 Sets
The most fundamental objects we will use in our studies (and really in all of
math) are sets. Much of what follows might be review, but it is very important
that you are fluent in the language of set theory. Most of the notation we use
below is standard, although some might be a little different than what you
have seen before.
For us, a set will simply be an unordered collection of objects. Two
examples: we could consider the set of all actors who have played The Doctor
on Doctor Who, or the set of natural numbers between 1 and 10 inclusive. In
the first case, Tom Baker is a element (or member) of the set, while Idris Elba,
among many others, is not an element of the set. Also, the two examples
are of different sets. Two sets are equal exactly if they contain the exact
same elements. For example, the set containing all of the vowels in the
declaration of independence is precisely the same set as the set of vowels in
the word “questionably” (namely, all of them); we do not care about order or
repetitions, just whether the element is in the set or not.
Notation
We need some notation to make talking about sets easier. Consider,
A {1, 2, 3}.
This is read, “A is the set containing the elements 1, 2 and 3.” We use
curly braces “{, }” to enclose elements of a set. Some more notation:
a ∈ {a, b, c}.
18 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
The symbol “∈” is read “is in” or “is an element of.” Thus the above means
that a is an element of the set containing the letters a, b, and c. Note that this
is a true statement. It would also be true to say that d is not in that set:
d < {a, b, c}.
Be warned: we write “x ∈ A” when we wish to express that one of the
elements of the set A is x. For example, consider the set,
A {1, b, {x, y, z}, ∅}.
This is a strange set, to be sure. It contains four elements: the number
1, the letter b, the set {x, y, z}, and the empty set (∅ {}, the set containing
no elements). Is x in A? The answer is no. None of the four elements in A
are the letter x, so we must conclude that x < A. Similarly, consider the set
B {1, b}. Even though the elements of B are elements of A, we cannot say
that the set B is one of the elements of A. Therefore B < A. (Soon we will see
that B is a subset of A, but this is different from being an element of A.)
We have described the sets above by listing their elements. Sometimes this
is hard to do, especially when there are a lot of elements in the set (perhaps
infinitely many). For instance, if we want A to be the set of all even natural
numbers, would could write,
A {0, 2, 4, 6, . . .},
but this is a little imprecise. A better way would be
A {x ∈ N : ∃n ∈ N(x 2n)}.
Breaking that down: “x ∈ N” means x is in the set N (the set of natural
numbers, {0, 1, 2, . . .}), “:” is read “such that” and “∃n ∈ N(x 2n)” is read
“there exists an n in the natural numbers for which x is two times n” (in other
words, x is even). Slightly easier might be,
A {x : x is even}.
Note: Sometimes people use | or for the “such that” symbol instead of
the colon.
Defining a set using this sort of notation is very useful, although it takes
some practice to read them correctly. It is a way to describe the set of all
things that satisfy some condition (the condition is the logical statement after
the “:” symbol). Here are some more examples:
Example 0.3.1
Describe each of the following sets both in words and by listing out
enough elements to see the pattern.
1. {x : x + 3 ∈ N}.
2. {x ∈ N : x + 3 ∈ N}.
0.3. Sets 19
3. {x : x ∈ N ∨ −x ∈ N}.
4. {x : x ∈ N ∧ −x ∈ N}.
Solution.
1. This is the set of all numbers which are 3 less than a natural
number (i.e., that if you add 3 to them, you get a natural num-
ber). The set could also be written as {−3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, . . .}
(note that 0 is a natural number, so −3 is in this set because
−3 + 3 0).
2. This is the set of all natural numbers which are 3 less than a
natural number. So here we just have {0, 1, 2, 3 . . .}.
3. This is the set of all integers (positive and negative whole num-
bers, written Z). In other words, {. . . , −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, . . .}.
We already have a lot of notation, and there is more yet. Below is a handy
chart of symbols. Some of these will be discussed in greater detail as we
move forward.
Special sets
P(A) The power set of any set A is the set of all subsets of A.
20 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
< 4 < {1, 2, 3} because 4 is not an element of the set {1, 2, 3}.
Investigate!
1. Find the cardinality of each set below.
(Remember, the order the elements are written down in does not matter.)
Also,
{1, 2, 3} {1, 1 + 1, 1 + 1 + 1} {I, II, III}
since these are all ways to write the set containing the first three positive
integers (how we write them doesn’t matter, just what they are).
What about the sets A {1, 2, 3} and B {1, 2, 3, 4}? Clearly A , B, but
notice that every element of A is also an element of B. Because of this we say
that A is a subset of B, or in symbols A ⊂ B or A ⊆ B. Both symbols are read
“is a subset of.” The difference is that sometimes we want to say that A is
either equal to or is a subset of B, in which case we use ⊆. This is analogous
to the difference between < and ≤.
Example 0.3.2
Let A {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, B {2, 4, 6}, C {1, 2, 3} and D {7, 8, 9}.
Determine which of the following are true, false, or meaningless.
1. A ⊂ B.
2. B ⊂ A.
3. B ∈ C.
4. ∅ ∈ A.
5. ∅ ⊂ A.
6. A < D.
7. 3 ∈ C.
8. 3 ⊂ C.
22 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
9. {3} ⊂ C.
Solution.
4. False. A has exactly 6 elements, and none of them are the empty
set.
Example 0.3.3
Let A {1, 2, 3}. Find P(A).
Solution. P(A) is a set of sets, all of which are subsets of A. So
P(A) {∅, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1, 2}, {1, 3}, {2, 3}, {1, 2, 3}}.
Another way to compare sets is by their size. Notice that in the example
above, A has 6 elements and B, C, and D all have 3 elements. The size of
a set is called the set’s cardinality . We would write |A| 6, |B| 3, and
so on. For sets that have a finite number of elements, the cardinality of the
set is simply the number of elements in the set. Note that the cardinality of
{1, 2, 3, 2, 1} is 3. We do not count repeats (in fact, {1, 2, 3, 2, 1} is exactly the
same set as {1, 2, 3}). There are sets with infinite cardinality, such as N, the
set of rational numbers (written Q), the set of even natural numbers, and the
set of real numbers (R). It is possible to distinguish between different infinite
cardinalities, but that is beyond the scope of this text. For us, a set will either
be infinite, or finite; if it is finite, the we can determine its cardinality by
counting elements.
Example 0.3.4
Solution.
2. Here |B| 3. The three elements are the number 1, the set
{2, 3, 4}, and the empty set.
3. We wrote out the elements of the power set P(C) above, and
there are 8 elements (each of which is a set). So |P(C)| 8. (You
might wonder if there is a relationship between |A| and |P(A)|
for all sets A. This is a good question which we will return to in
Chapter 1.)
Operations On Sets
Is it possible to add two sets? Not really, however there is something similar.
If we want to combine two sets to get the collection of objects that are in either
set, then we can take the union of the two sets. Symbolically,
C A ∪ B,
read, “C is the union of A and B,” means that the elements of C are exactly the
elements which are either an element of A or an element of B (or an element of
both). For example, if A {1, 2, 3} and B {2, 3, 4}, then A ∪ B {1, 2, 3, 4}.
24 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
BA
when B contains every element not contained in A. So, if our universe is
{1, 2, . . . , 9, 10}, and A {2, 3, 5, 7}, then A {1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10}.
Of course we can perform more than one operation at a time. For example,
consider
A ∩ B.
This is the set of all elements which are both elements of A and not
elements of B. What have we done? We’ve started with A and removed all of
the elements which were in B. Another way to write this is the set difference
:
A ∩ B A \ B.
It is important to remember that these operations (union, intersection,
complement, and difference) on sets produce other sets. Don’t confuse these
with the symbols from the previous section (element of and subset of). A ∩ B
is a set, while A ⊆ B is true or false. This is the same difference as between
3 + 2 (which is a number) and 3 ≤ 2 (which is false).
Example 0.3.5
Let A {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, B {2, 4, 6}, C {1, 2, 3} and D {7, 8, 9}.
If the universe is U {1, 2, . . . , 10}, find:
1. A ∪ B.
2. A ∩ B.
3. B ∩ C.
4. A ∩ D.
5. B ∪ C.
6. A \ B.
7. (D ∩ C) ∪ A ∩ B.
0.3. Sets 25
8. ∅ ∪ C.
9. ∅ ∩ C.
Solution.
You might notice that the symbols for union and intersection slightly
resemble the logic symbols for “or” and “and.” This is no accident. What
does it mean for x to be an element of A ∪ B? It means that x is an element of
A or x is an element of B (or both). That is,
x ∈A∪B ⇔ x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B.
Similarly,
x ∈A∩B ⇔ x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B.
Also,
x∈A ⇔ ¬(x ∈ A).
which says x is an element of the complement of A if x is not an element of A.
There is one more way to combine sets which will be useful for us: the
Cartesian product, A × B . This sounds fancy but is nothing you haven’t seen
before. When you graph a function in calculus, you graph it in the Cartesian
plane. This is the set of all ordered pairs of real numbers (x, y). We can do
this for any pair of sets, not just the real numbers with themselves.
Put another way, A × B {(a, b) : a ∈ A ∧ b ∈ B}. The first coordinate
comes from the first set and the second coordinate comes from the second
26 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
set. Sometimes we will want to take the Cartesian product of a set with
itself, and this is fine: A × A {(a, b) : a, b ∈ A} (we might also write A2
for this set). Notice that in A × A, we still want all ordered pairs, not just
the ones where the first and second coordinate are the same. We can also
take products of 3 or more sets, getting ordered triples, or quadruples, and
so on.
Example 0.3.6
Let A {1, 2} and B {3, 4, 5}. Find A × B and A × A. How many
elements do you expect to be in B × B?
Solution. A × B {(1, 3), (1, 4), (1, 5), (2, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5)}.
A × A A2 {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2)}.
|B × B| 9. There will be 3 pairs with first coordinate 3, three
more with first coordinate 4, and a final three with first coordinate 5.
Venn Diagrams
There is a very nice visual tool we can use to represent operations on sets. A
Venn diagram displays sets as intersecting circles. We can shade the region
we are talking about when we carry out an operation. We can also represent
cardinality of a particular set by putting the number in the corresponding
region.
A B A B
Each circle represents a set. The rectangle containing the circles repre-
sents the universe. To represent combinations of these sets, we shade the
corresponding region. For example, we could draw A ∩ B as:
A B
0.3. Sets 27
A B
A B
Notice that the shaded regions above could also be arrived at in another
way. We could have started with all of C, then excluded the region where C
and A overlap outside of B. That region is (A ∩ C) ∩ B. So the above Venn
diagram also represents C ∩ (A ∩ C) ∩ B . So using just the picture, we have
determined that
(B ∩ C) ∪ (C ∩ A) C ∩ (A ∩ C) ∩ B .
Exercises
1. Let A {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, B {3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, and C {2, 3, 5}.
(a) Find A ∩ B.
(b) Find A ∪ B.
(c) Find A \ B.
(d) Find A ∩ (B ∪ C).
(e) Find A × C.
(f) Is C ⊆ A? Explain.
(g) Is C ⊆ B? Explain.
(b) Find A ∪ B.
(c) Find B ∩ C.
(d) Find B ∪ C.
6. Let A2 be the set of all multiples of 2 except for 2. Let A3 be the set of all
multiples of 3 except for 3. And so on, so that A n is the set of all multiple of
n except for n, for any n ≥ 2. Describe (in words) the set A2 ∪ A3 ∪ A4 ∪ · · ·.
7. Draw a Venn diagram to represent each of the following:
(a) A ∪ B
(b) (A ∪ B)
(c) A ∩ (B ∪ C)
(d) (A ∩ B) ∪ C
(e) A ∩ B ∩ C
(f) (A ∪ B) \ C
8. Describe a set in terms of A and B (using set notation) which has the
following Venn diagram:
A B
0.4 Functions
A function is a rule that assigns each input exactly one output. We call the
output the image of the input. The set of all inputs for a function is called
the domain. The set of all allowable outputs is called the codomain. We
would write f : X → Y to describe a function with name f , domain X and
codomain Y. This does not tell us which function f is though. To define the
function, we must describe the rule. This is often done by giving a formula
to compute the output for any input (although this is certainly not the only
way to describe the rule).
For example, consider the function f : N → N defined by f (x) x 2 + 3.
Here the domain and codomain are the same set (the natural numbers). The
rule is: take your input, multiply it by itself and add 3. This works because we
can apply this rule to every natural number (every element of the domain) and
the result is always a natural number (an element of the codomain). Notice
though that not every natural number actually is an output (there is no way to
get 0, 1, 2, 5, etc.). The set of natural numbers that are actually outputs is called
the range of the function (in this case, the range is {3, 4, 7, 12, 19, 28, . . .}, all
the natural numbers that are 3 more than a perfect square).
The key thing that makes a rule actually a function is that there is exactly
one output for each input. That is, it is important that the rule be a good rule.
What output do we assign to the input 7? There can only be one answer for
any particular function.
30 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
The description of the rule can vary greatly. We might just give a list of
the images of each input. You could also describe the function with a table
or a graph or in words.
Example 0.4.1
The following are all examples of functions:
1 2 3
1 2 3
The arrow diagram used to define the function above can be very helpful
in visualizing functions. We will often be working with functions with finite
domains, so this kind of picture is often more useful than a traditional graph
of a function. A graph of the function in example 3 above would look like
this:
examples 2 and 3 above. All we need is some clear way of denoting the image
of each element in the domain. In fact, writing a table of values would work
perfectly:
x 0 1 2 3 4
f (x) 3 3 2 4 1
We simplify this further by writing this as a matrix with each input directly
over its output:
0 1 2 3 4
f
3 3 2 4 1
Note this is just notation and not the same sort of matrix you would find
in a linear algebra class (it does not make sense to do operations with these
matrices, or row reduce them, for example).
It is important to know how to determine if a rule is or is not a function.
Drawing the arrow diagrams can help.
Example 0.4.2
Which of the following diagrams represent a function? Let X
{1, 2, 3, 4} and Y {a, b, c, d}.
a c a b c d a b c d
b d
It might also be helpful to think about how you would write the
two-line notation for h. We would have something like:
1 2 3 4
h .
a, c? d b
There is nothing under 1 (bad) and we needed to put more than one
thing under 2 (very bad). With a rule that is actually a function, the
two-line notation will always “work”.
Example 0.4.3
Which functions are surjective (i.e., onto)?
1 2 3
2. g : {1, 2, 3} → {a, b, c} defined by g .
c a a
1 2 3
1 2 3
Solution.
Example 0.4.4
Which functions are injective (i.e., one-to-one)?
1 2 3
2. g : {1, 2, 3} → {a, b, c} defined by g .
c a a
1 2 3
1 2 3
Solution.
From the examples above, it should be clear that there are functions which
are surjective, injective, both, or neither. In the case when a function is both
one-to-one and onto (an injection and surjection), we say the function is a
bijection, or that the function is a bijective function.
Inverse Image
When discussing functions, we have notation for talking about an element
of the domain (say x) and its corresponding element in the codomain (we
write f (x), which is the image of x). It would also be nice to start with some
element of the codomain (say y) and talk about which element or elements
(if any) from the domain it is the image of. We could write “those x in the
domain such that f (x) y,” but this is a lot of writing. Here is some notation
to make our lives easier.
Suppose f : X → Y is a function. For y ∈ Y (an element of the codomain),
we write f −1 (y) to represent the set of all elements in the domain X which
get sent to y. That is, f −1 (y) {x ∈ X : f (x) y}. We say that f −1 (y) is the
complete inverse image of y under f .
WARNING: f −1 (y) is not an inverse function! Inverse functions only exist
for bijections, but f −1 (y) is defined for any function f . The point: f −1 (y) is a
set, not an element of the domain.
0.4. Functions 35
Example 0.4.5
Consider the function f : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} → {a, b, c, d} given by
1 2 3 4 5 6
f .
a a b c c c
f −1 (a) {1, 2}
f −1 (b) {3}
f −1 (c) {4, 5, 6}
f −1 (d) ∅.
Example 0.4.6
Consider the function g : Z → Z defined by g(n) n 2 + 1. Find
g −1 (1), g −1 (2), g −1 (3) and g −1 (10).
Solution. To find g −1 (1), we need to find all integers n such that
n 2 + 1 1. Clearly only 0 works, so g −1 (1) {0} (note that even
though there is only one element, we still write it as a set with one
element in it).
To find g −1 (2), we need to find all n such that n 2 + 1 2. We see
g (2) {−1, 1}.
−1
Since f −1 (y) is a set, it makes sense to ask for f −1 (y), the number of
Example 0.4.7
Find a function f : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → N such that f −1 (7) 5.
1 2 3 4 5
f .
7 7 7 7 7
36 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
Function Definitions
• A function is a rule that assigns each element of a set, called
the domain, to exactly one element of a second set, called the
codomain.
• To specify the rule for a function with small domain, use two-line
notation by writing a matrix with each output directly below its
corresponding input, as in:
1 2 3 4
f .
2 1 3 1
Exercises
1. Write out all functions f : {1, 2, 3} → {a, b} (using two-line notation).
How many are there? How many are injective? How many are surjective?
How many are both?
2. Write out all functions f : {1, 2} → {a, b, c} (in two-line notation). How
many are there? How many are injective? How many are surjective? How
many are both?
3. Consider the function f : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → {1, 2, 3, 4} given by the table
below:
x 1 2 3 4 5
f (x) 3 2 4 1 2
f (x)
4
1 2 3 4 x
5. For each function given below, determine whether or not the function is
injective and whether or not the function is surjective.
38 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
1 2 3
a b c
Hint. Work with some examples. What if f and g ?
a a b 5 6 7
(
n+1 if n is even
13. Consider the function f : Z → Z given by f (n)
n−3 if n is odd.
(a) Is f injective? Prove your answer.
(b) Is f surjective? Prove your answer.
14. At the end of the semester a teacher assigns letter grades to each of her
students. Is this a function? If so, what sets make up the domain and
codomain, and is the function injective, surjective, bijective, or neither?
15. In the game of Hearts, four players are each dealt 13 cards from a deck of
52. Is this a function? If so, what sets make up the domain and codomain,
and is the function injective, surjective, bijective, or neither?
16. Suppose 7 players are playing 5-card stud. Each player initially receives
5 cards from a deck of 52. Is this a function? If so, what sets make up the
domain and codomain, and is the function injective, surjective, bijective, or
neither?
40 0. Introduction and Preliminaries
Chapter 1
Counting
One of the first things you learn in mathematics is how to count. Now we
want to count large collections of things quickly and precisely. For example:
• How many ways can you distribute 10 girl scout cookies to 7 boy scouts?
Before tackling questions like these, let’s look at the basics of counting.
Investigate!
1. A restaurant offers 8 appetizers and 14 entrées. How many
choices do you have if:
(a) How many ways can you select a card which is either red
or a face card?
(b) How many ways can you select a card which is both red
and a face card?
(c) How many ways can you select two cards so that the first
one is red and the second one is a face card?
41
42 1. Counting
Consider this rather simple counting problem: at Red Dogs and Donuts,
there are 14 varieties of donuts, and 16 types of hot dogs. If you want either a
donut or a dog, how many options do you have? This isn’t too hard, just add
14 and 16. Will that always work? What is important here?
Additive Principle
The additive principle states that if event A can occur in m ways, and
event B can occur in n disjoint ways, then the event “A or B” can occur
in m + n ways.
It is important that the events be disjoint: i.e., that there is no way for A
and B to both happen at the same time. For example, a standard deck of 52
cards contains 26 red cards and 12 face cards. However, the number of ways
to select a card which is either red or a face card is not 26 + 12 38. This is
because there are 6 cards which are both red and face cards.
Example 1.1.1
How many two letter “words” start with either A or B? (A word is just
a string of letters; it doesn’t have to be English, or even pronounce-
able.)
Solution. First, how many two letter words start with A? We just
need to select the second letter, which can be accomplished in 26
ways. So there are 26 words starting with A. There are also 26 words
that start with B. To select a word which starts with either A or B, we
can pick the word from the first 26 or the second 26, for a total of 52
words.
The additive principle also works with more than two events. Say, in
addition to your 14 choices for donuts and 16 for dogs, you would also
consider eating one of 15 waffles? How many choices do you have now? You
would have 14 + 16 + 15 45 options.
Example 1.1.2
How many two letter words start with one of the 5 vowels?
Solution. There are 26 two letter words starting with A, another 26
starting with E, and so on. We will have 5 groups of 26. So we add 26
to itself 5 times. Of course it would be easier to just multiply 5 · 26. We
are really using the additive principle again, just using multiplication
as a shortcut.
1.1. Additive and Multiplicative Principles 43
Example 1.1.3
Suppose you are going for some fro-yo. You can pick one of 6 yogurt
choices, and one of 4 toppings. How many choices do you have?
Solution. Break your choices up into disjoint events: A are the
choices with the first topping, B the choices featuring the second
topping, and so on. There are four events; each can occur in 6 ways
(one for each yogurt flavor). The events are disjoint, so the total
number of choices is 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 24.
Note that in both of the previous examples, when using the additive
principle on a bunch of events all the same size, it is quicker to multiply. This
really is the same, and not just because 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 4 · 6. We can first select
the topping in 4 ways (that is, we first select which of the disjoint events we
will take). For each of those first 4 choices, we now have 6 choices of yogurt.
We have:
Multiplicative Principle
Example 1.1.4
How many license plates can you make out of three letters followed
by three numerical digits?
Solution. Here we have six events: the first letter, the second letter,
the third letter, the first digit, the second digit, and the third digit.
The first three events can each happen in 26 ways; the last three can
each happen in 10 ways. So the total number of license plates will be
26 · 26 · 26 · 10 · 10 · 10, using the multiplicative principle.
Does this make sense? Think about how we would pick a license
plate. How many choices we would have? First, we need to pick the
first letter. There are 26 choices. Now for each of those, there are 26
choices for the second letter: 26 second letters with first letter A, 26
second letters with first letter B, and so on. We add 26 to itself 26
times. Or quicker: there are 26 · 26 choices for the first two letters.
Now for each choice of the first two letters, we have 26 choices for
the third letter. That is, 26 third letters for the first two letters AA,
26 choices for the third letter after starting AB, and so on. There are
26 · 26 of these 26 third letter choices, for a total of (26 · 26) · 26 choices
44 1. Counting
for the first three letters. And for each of these 26 · 26 · 26 choices of
letters, we have a bunch of choices for the remaining digits.
In fact, there are going to be exactly 1000 choices for the num-
bers. We can see this because there are 1000 three-digit numbers (000
through 999). This is 10 choices for the first digit, 10 for the second,
and 10 for the third. The multiplicative principle says we multiply:
10 · 10 · 10 1000.
All together, there were 263 choices for the three letters, and 103
choices for the numbers, so we have a total of 263 · 103 choices of
license plates.
Careful: “and” doesn’t mean “times.” For example, how many playing
cards are both red and a face card? Not 26 · 12. The answer is 6, and we
needed to know something about cards to answer that question.
Another caution: how many ways can you select two cards, so that the
first one is a red card and the second one is a face card? This looks more like
the multiplicative principle (you are counting two separate events) but the
answer is not 26 · 12 here either. The problem is that while there are 26 ways
for the first card to be selected, it is not the case that for each of those there are
12 ways to select the second card. If the first card was both red and a face card,
then there would be only 11 choices for the second card. 1
1To solve this problem, you could break it into two cases. First, count how many ways there
are to select the two cards when the first card is a red non-face card. Second, count how many
ways when the first card is a red face card. Doing so makes the events in each separate case
independent, so the multiplicative principle can be applied.
1.1. Additive and Multiplicative Principles 45
Solution. By now you should agree that the answer to the first
question is 9·5 45 and the answer to the second question is 9+5 14.
These are the multiplicative and additive principles. There are two
events: picking a shirt and picking a pair of pants. The first event can
happen in 9 ways and the second event can happen in 5 ways. To get
both a shirt and a pair of pants, you multiply. To get just one article
of clothing, you add.
Now look at this using sets. There are two sets, call them S and
P. The set S contains all 9 shirts so |S| 9 while |P| 5, since there
are 5 elements in the set P (namely your 5 pairs of pants). What are
we asking in terms of these sets? Well in question 2, we really want
|S ∪ P|, the number of elements in the union of shirts and pants. This
is just |S| + |P| (since there is no overlap; |S ∩ P| 0). Question 1 is
slightly more complicated. Your first guess might be to find |S ∩ P|,
but this is not right (there is nothing in the intersection). We are not
asking for how many clothing items are both a shirt and a pair of
pants. Instead, we want one of each. We could think of this as asking
how many pairs (x, y) there are, where x is a shirt and y is a pair of
pants. As we will soon verify, this number is |S| · |P|.
46 1. Counting
From this example we can see right away how to rephrase our additive
principle in terms of sets:
|A ∪ B| |A| + |B| .
Cartesian Product
Given sets A and B, we can form the set A × B {(x, y) : x ∈ A ∧ y ∈ B}
to be the set of all ordered pairs (x, y) where x is an element of A and y
is an element of B. We call A × B the Cartesian product of A and B.
Example 1.1.7
Let A {1, 2} and B {3, 4, 5}. Find A × B.
Solution. We want to find ordered pairs (a, b) where a can be either
1 or 2 and b can be either 3, 4, or 5. A × B is the set of all of these pairs:
A × B {(1, 3), (1, 4), (1, 5), (2, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5)}
The question is, what is |A × B|? To figure this out, write out A × B. Let
A {a1 , a 2 , a 3 , . . . , a m } and B {b 1 , b 2 , b3 , . . . , b n } (so |A| m and |B| n).
The set A × B contains all pairs with the first half of the pair being some a i ∈ A
and the second being one of the b j ∈ B. In other words:
Notice what we have done here: we made m rows of n pairs, for a total of
m · n pairs.
Each row above is really {a i } × B for some a i ∈ A. That is, we fixed the
A-element. Broken up this way, we have
Principle of Inclusion/Exclusion
Investigate!
A recent buzz marketing campaign for Village Inn surveyed patrons
on their pie preferences. People were asked whether they enjoyed (A)
Apple, (B) Blueberry or (C) Cherry pie (respondents answered yes or
no to each type of pie, and could say yes to more than one type). The
following table shows the results of the survey.
How many of those asked enjoy at least one of the kinds of pie?
Also, explain why the answer is not 95.
A B
4 6 2
|A ∪ B| |A| + |B| − |A ∩ B| .
1.1. Additive and Multiplicative Principles 49
Example 1.1.8
An examination in three subjects, Algebra, Biology, and Chemistry,
was taken by 41 students. The following table shows how many stu-
dents failed in each single subject and in their various combinations:
Subject: A B C AB AC BC ABC
Failed: 12 5 8 2 6 3 1
A B
A B
1
1
5 2
C
50 1. Counting
A B
5 1 1
1
5 2
0
26
C
of our sum once. But now what about the elements which are in A ∩ B ∩ C (in
all three sets)? We added them in three times, but also removed them three
times. They have not yet been counted. Thus we add those elements back in
at the end.
Returning to our example above, we have |A| 12, |B| 5, |C| 8.
We also have |A ∩ B| 2, |A ∩ C| 6, |B ∩ C| 3, and |A ∩ B ∩ C| 1.
Therefore:
|A ∪ B ∪ C| 12 + 5 + 8 − 2 − 6 − 3 + 1 15
This is what we got when we solved the problem using Venn diagrams.
This process of adding in, then taking out, then adding back in, and so on is
called the Principle of Inclusion/Exclusion, or simply PIE. We will return to this
counting technique later to solve for more complicated problems (involving
more than 3 sets).
Exercises
1. Your wardrobe consists of 5 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, and 17 bow ties. How
many different outfits can you make?
2. For your college interview, you must wear a tie. You own 3 regular (boring)
ties and 5 (cool) bow ties.
(a) How many choices do you have for your neck-wear?
(b) You realize that the interview is for clown college, so you should prob-
ably wear both a regular tie and a bow tie. How many choices do you
have now?
(c) For the rest of your outfit, you have 5 shirts, 4 skirts, 3 pants, and 7
dresses. You want to select either a shirt to wear with a skirt or pants,
or just a dress. How many outfits do you have to choose from?
4. We usually write numbers in decimal form (or base 10), meaning numbers
are composed using 10 different “digits” {0, 1, . . . , 9}. Sometimes though it
is useful to write numbers hexadecimal or base 16. Now there are 16 distinct
digits that can be used to form numbers: {0, 1, . . . , 9, A, B, C, D, E, F}. So for
example, a 3 digit hexadecimal number might be 2B8.
(a) How many 2-digit hexadecimals are there in which the first digit is E or
F? Explain your answer in terms of the additive principle (using either
events or sets).
52 1. Counting
(b) Explain why your answer to the previous part is correct in terms of the
multiplicative principle (using either events or sets). Why do both the
additive and multiplicative principles give you the same answer?
(c) How many 3-digit hexadecimals start with a letter (A-F) and end with a
numeral (0-9)? Explain.
(d) How many 3-digit hexadecimals start with a letter (A-F) or end with a
numeral (0-9) (or both)? Explain.
5. Suppose you have sets A and B with |A| 10 and |B| 15.
(a) What is the largest possible value for |A ∩ B|?
(b) What is the smallest possible value for |A ∩ B|?
(c) What are the possible values for |A ∪ B|?
11. Consider all 5 letter “words” made from the letters a through h. (Recall,
words are just strings of letters, not necessarily actual English words.)
(a) How many of these words are there total?
(b) How many of these words contain no repeated letters?
(c) How many of these words start with the sub-word “aha”?
1.2. Binomial Coefficients 53
(d) How many of these words either start with “aha” or end with “bah” or
both?
(e) How many of the words containing no repeats also do not contain the
sub-word “bad”?
12. For how many three digit numbers (100 to 999) is the sum of the digits
even? (For example, 343 has an even sum of digits: 3 + 4 + 3 10 which is
even.) Find the answer and explain why it is correct in at least two different
ways.
13. The number 735000 factors as 23 · 3 · 54 · 72 . How many divisors does it
have? Explain your answer using the multiplicative principle.
Investigate!
In chess, a rook can move only in straight lines (not diagonally). Fill
in each square of the chess board below with the number of different
shortest paths the rook, in the upper left corner, can take to get to that
square. For example, one square is already filled in. There are six
different paths from the rook to the square: DDRR (down down right
right), DRDR, DRRD, RDDR, RDRD and RRDD.
Subsets
Subsets should be familiar, otherwise read over Section 0.3 again. Suppose
we look at the set A {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. How many subsets of A contain exactly
3 elements?
First, a simpler question: How many subsets of A are there total? In other
words, what is |P(A)| (the cardinality of the power set of A)? Think about
how we would build a subset. We need to decide, for each of the elements of
A, whether or not to include the element in our subset. So we need to decide
“yes” or “no” for the element 1. And for each choice we make, we need to
decide “yes” or “no” for the element 2. And so on. For each of the 5 elements,
we have 2 choices. Therefore the number of subsets is simply 2 · 2 · 2 · 2 · 2 25
(by the multiplicative principle).
Of those 32 subsets, how many have 3 elements? This is not obvious. Note
that we cannot just use the multiplicative principle. Maybe we want to say
we have 2 choices (yes/no) for the first element, 2 choices for the second, 2
choices for the third, and then only 1 choice for the other two. But what if we
said “no” to one of the first three elements? Then we would have two choices
for the 4th element. What a mess!
Another (bad) idea: we need to pick three elements to be in our subset.
There are 5 elements to choose from. So there are 5 choices for the first
element, and for each of those 4 choices for the second, and then 3 for the
third (last) element. The multiplicative principle would say then that there
are a total of 5 · 4 · 3 60 ways to select the 3 element subset. But this cannot
be correct (60 > 32 for one thing). One of the outcomes we would get from
these choices would be the set {3, 2, 5}, by choosing the element 3 first, then
the element 2, then the element 5. Another outcome would be {5, 2, 3} by
choosing the element 5 first, then the element 2, then the element 3. But
these are the same set! We can correct this by dividing: for each set of three
elements, there are 6 outcomes counted amoung our 60 (since there are 3
choices for which element we list first, 2 for which we list second, and 1 for
which we list last). So we expect there to be 10 3-element subsets of A.
Is this right? Well, we could list out all 10 of them, being very systematic
in doing so, to make sure we don’t miss any or list any twice. Or we could
try to count how many subsets of A don’t have 3 elements in them. How
many have no elements? Just 1 (the empty set). How many have 5? Again,
just 1. These are the cases in which we say “no” to all elements, or “yes” to
all elements. Okay, what about the subsets which contain a single element?
There are 5 of these. We must say “yes” to exactly one element, and there are
5 to choose from. This is also the number of subsets containing 4 elements.
Those are the ones for which we must say “no” to exactly one element.
So far we have counted 12 of the 32 subsets. We have not yet counted
the subsets with cardinality 2 and with cardinality 3. There are a total of
20 subsets left to split up between these two groups. But the number of
each must be the same! If we say “yes” to exactly two elements, that can be
1.2. Binomial Coefficients 55
Number of elements: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Number of subsets: 1 5 10 10 5 1
Bit Strings
“Bit” is short for “binary digit,” so a bit string is a string of binary digits. The
binary digits are simply the numbers 0 and 1. All of the following are bit
strings:
1001 0 1111 1010101010
The number of bits (0’s or 1’s) in the string is the length of the string;
the strings above have lengths 4, 1, 4, and 10 respectively. We also can
ask how many of the bits are 1’s. The number of 1’s in a bit string is the
weight of the string; the weights of the above strings are 2, 0, 4, and 5
respectively.
Bit Strings
For example, the elements of the set B32 are the bit strings 011, 101, and
110. Those are the only strings containing three bits exactly two of which are
1’s.
The counting questions: How many bit strings have length 5? How many
of those have weight 3? In other words, we are asking for the cardinalities
|B5 | and |B53 |.
To find the number of 5-bit strings is straight forward. We have 5 bits,
and each can either be a 0 or a 1. So there are 2 choices for the first bit, 2
choices for the second, and so on. By the multiplicative principle, there are
2 · 2 · 2 · 2 · 2 25 32 such strings.
Finding the number of 5-bit strings of weight 3 is harder. Think about
how such a string could start. The first bit must be either a 0 or a 1. In the
first case (the string starts with a 0), we must then decide on four more bits.
To have a total of three 1’s, among those four remaining bits there must be
56 1. Counting
three 1’s. To count all of these strings, we must include all 4-bit strings of
weight 3. In the second case (the string starts with a 1), we still have four bits
to choose, but now only two of them can be 1’s, so we should look at all the
4-bit strings of weight 2. So the strings in B53 all have the form 1B42 (that is, a
1 followed by a string from B42 ) or 0B43 . These two sets are disjoint, so we can
use the additive principle:
We can keep going down, but this should be good enough. Both B31 and
B32 contain 3 bit strings: we must pick one of the three bits to be a 1 (three
ways to do that) or one of the three bits to be a 0 (three ways to do that). Also,
B33 contains just one string: 111. Thus |B42 | 6 and |B43 | 4, which puts B53 at
a total of 10 strings.
But wait —32 and 10 were the answers to the counting questions about
subsets. Coincidence? Not at all. Each bit string can be thought of as a code
for a subset. For the set A {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, we would use 5-bit strings, one
bit for each element of A. Each bit in the string is a 0 if its corresponding
element of A is not in the subset, and a 1 if the element of A is in the subset.
Remember, deciding the subset amounted to a sequence of five yes/no votes
for the elements of A. Instead of yes, we put a 1; instead of no, we put a 0.
For example, the bit string 11001 represents the subset {1, 2, 5} since the
first, second and fifth bits are 1’s. The subset {3, 5} would be coded by the
string 00101. What we really have here is a bijection from P(A) to B5 .
Now for a subset to contain exactly three elements, the corresponding bit
string must contain exactly three 1’s. In other words, the weight must be 3.
Thus counting the number of 3-element subsets of A is the same as counting
the number 5-bit strings of weight 3.
Lattice Paths
The integer lattice is the set of all points in the Cartesian plane for which both
the x and y coordinates are integers. If you like to draw graphs on graph
paper, the lattice is the set of all the intersections of the grid lines.
A lattice path is one of the shortest possible paths connecting two points
on the lattice, moving only horizontally and vertically. For example, here are
three possible lattice paths from the points (0, 0) to (3, 2):
1.2. Binomial Coefficients 57
Notice to ensure the path is the shortest possible, each move must be either
to the right or up. Additionally, in this case, note that no matter what path
we take, we must make three steps right and two steps up. No matter what
order we make these steps, there will always be 5 steps. Thus each path has
length 5.
The counting question: how many lattice paths are there between (0, 0)
and (3, 2)? We could try to draw all of these, or instead of drawing them,
maybe just list which direction we travel on each of the 5 steps. One path
might be RRUUR, or maybe UURRR, or perhaps RURRU (those correspond
to the three paths drawn above). So how many such strings of R’s and U’s
are there?
Notice that each of these strings must contain 5 symbols. Exactly 3 of
them must be R’s (since our destination is 3 units to the right). This seems
awfully familiar. In fact, what if we used 1’s instead of R’s and 0’s instead of
U’s? Then we would just have 5-bit strings of weight 3. There are 10 of those,
so there are 10 lattice paths from (0,0) to (3,2).
The correspondence between bit strings and lattice paths does not stop
there. Here is another way to count lattice paths. Consider the lattice shown
below:
A (3,2)
(0,0)
Any lattice path from (0,0) to (3,2) must pass through exactly one of A
and B. The point A is 4 steps away from (0,0) and two of them are towards
the right. The number of lattice paths to A is the same as the number of 4-bit
strings of weight 2, namely 6. The point B is 4 steps away from (0,0), but now
3 of them are towards the right. So the number of paths to point B is the same
as the number of 4-bit strings of weight 3, namely 4. So the total number of
paths to (3,2) is just 6 + 4. This is the same way we calculated the number of
5-bit strings of weight 3. The point: the exact same recurrence relation exists
for bit strings and for lattice paths.
58 1. Counting
Binomial Coefficients
Binomial coefficients are the coefficients in the expanded version of a bino-
mial, such as (x + y)5 . What happens when we multiply such a binomial out?
We will expand (x + y)n for various values of n. Each of these are done by
multiplying everything out (i.e., FOIL-ing) and then collecting like terms.
(x + y)1 x + y
(x + y)2 x 2 + 2x y + y 2
(x + y)3 x 3 + 3x 2 y + 3x y 2 + y 3
(x + y)4 x 4 + 4x 3 y + 6x 2 y 2 + 4x y 3 + y 4 .
In fact, there is a quicker way to expand the above binomials. For example,
consider the next one, (x + y)5 . What we are really doing is multiplying out,
If that looks daunting, go back to the case of (x + y)3 (x + y)(x + y)(x + y).
Why do we only have one x 3 and y 3 but three x 2 y and x y 2 terms? Every
time we distribute over an (x + y) we create two copies of what is left, one
multiplied by x, the other multiplied by y. To get x 3 , we need to pick the
“multiplied by x” side every time (we don’t have any y’s in the term). This
will only happen once. On the other hand, to get x 2 y we need to select the
x side twice and the y side once. In other words, we need to pick one of the
three (x + y) terms to “contribute” their y.
Similarly, in the expansion of (x + y)5 , there will be only one x 5 term and
one y 5 term. This is because to get an x 5 , we need to use the x term in each of
the copies of the binomial (x + y), and similarly for y 5 . What about x 4 y? To
get terms like this, we need to use four x’s and one y, so we need exactly one
of the five binomials to contribute a y. There are 5 choices for this, so there
are 5 ways to get x 4 y, so the coefficient of x 4 y is 5. This is also the coefficient
for x y 4 for the same (but opposite) reason: there are 5 ways to pick which of
the 5 binomials contribute the single x. So far we have
(x + y)5 x 5 + 5x 4 y + ? x 3 y 2 + ? x 2 y 3 + 5x y 4 + y 5 .
These numbers we keep seeing over and over again. They are the number
of subsets of a particular size, the number of bit strings of a particular weight,
the number of lattice paths, and the coefficients of these binomial products.
We will call
them binomial coefficients. We even have a special symbol for
them: nk .
Binomial Coefficients
For each integer n ≥ 0 and integer k with 0 ≤ k ≤ n there is a number
n
k
• n
k |Bnk |, the number of n-bit strings of weight k.
• n
k is the number of subsets of a set of size n each with cardinality
k.
• n
k is the number of lattice paths of length n containing k steps to
the right.
• n
k is the coefficient of x k y n−k in the expansion of (x + y)n .
• n
k is the number of ways to select k objects from a total of n objects.
• How many bit strings have length 5 and weight 3? We must choose 3
5 5
of the 5 bits to be 1’s. There are 3 ways to do this, so there are 3 such
bit strings.
• How many lattice paths are there from (0,0) to (3,2)? We must choose 3
5
of the 5 steps to be towards the right. There are 3 ways to do this, so
there are 53 such lattice paths.
correct. However, this does not tell us that theanswer is in fact 10 in each
case. We will eventually find a formula for nk , but for now, look back at
how we arrived at the answer 10 in our counting problems above. It all came
down to bit strings, and we have a recurrence relation for bit strings:
k−1 | + |Bk |.
|Bnk | |Bn−1 n−1
Remember, this is because we can start the bit string with either a 1 or a
0. In both cases, we have n − 1 more bits to pick. The strings starting with 1
must contain k − 1 more 1’s, while the strings starting with 0 still need k more
1’s.
Since |Bnk | nk , the same recurrence relation holds for binomial coeffi-
cients:
n
Recurrence relation for k
n−1 n−1
n
+
k k−1 k
Pascal’s Triangle
Let’s arrange the binomial coefficients n
k into a triangle like follows:
0
0
1 1
0 1
2 2 2
0 1 2
3 3 3 3
0 1 2 3
4 4 4 4 4
0 1 2 3 4
This can continue as far down as we like. The recurrence relation for nk
tells us that each entry in the triangle is the sum of the two entries above it.
The entries on the sides of the triangle are always 1. This is because n
0 1
for all n since there is only one way to pick 0 of n objects and nn 1 since
there is one way to select all n out of n objects. Using the recurrence relation,
and the fact that the sides of the triangle are 1’s, we can easily replace all
the entries above with the correct values of nk . Doing so gives us Pascal’s
triangle.
1.2. Binomial Coefficients 61
Pascal’s Triangle
1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
1 6 15 20 15 6 1
1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1
1 8 28 56 70 56 28 8 1
1 9 36 84 126 126 84 36 9 1
1 10 45 120 210 252 210 120 45 10 1
1 11 55 165 330 462 462 330 165 55 11 1
1 12 66 220 495 792 924 792 495 220 66 12 1
1 13 78 286 715 1287 1716 1716 1287 715 286 78 13 1
1 14 91 364 1001 2002 3003 3432 3003 2002 1001 364 91 14 1
1 15 105 455 1365 3003 5005 6435 6435 5005 3003 1365 455 105 15 1
1 16 120 560 1820 4368 8008 11440 12870 11440 8008 4368 1820 560 120 16 1
Exercises
1. Let S {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
(a) How many subsets are there total?
(b) How many subsets have {2, 3, 5} as a subset?
(c) How many subsets contain at least one odd number?
(d) How many subsets contain exactly one even number?
2. Let S {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
(a) How many subsets are there of cardinality 4?
(b) How many subsets of cardinality 4 have {2, 3, 5} as a subset?
62 1. Counting
(c) How many subsets of cardinality 4 contain at least one odd number?
(d) How many subsets of cardinality 4 contain exactly one even number?
4. How many 9-bit strings (that is, bit strings of length 9) are there which:
(a) Start with the sub-string 101? Explain.
(b) Have weight 5 (i.e., contain exactly five 1’s) and start with the sub-string
101? Explain.
(c) Either start with 101 or end with 11 (or both)? Explain.
(d) Have weight 5 and either start with 101 or end with 11 (or both)? Explain.
5. You break your piggy-bank to discover lots of pennies and nickels. You
start arranging these in rows of 6 coins.
(a) You find yourself making rows containing an equal number of pennies
and nickels. For fun, you decide to lay out every possible such row. How
many coins will you need?
(b) How many coins would you need to make all possible rows of 6 coins
(not necessarily with equal number of pennies and nickels)?
11. Gridtown USA, besides having excellent donut shoppes, is known for
its precisely laid out grid of streets and avenues. Streets run east-west, and
avenues north-south, for the entire stretch of the town, never curving and
never interrupted by parks or schools or the like.
Suppose you live on the corner of 1st and 1st and work on the corner of 12th
and 12th. Thus you must travel 22 blocks to get to work as quickly as possible.
1.3. Combinations and Permutations 63
(a) How many different routes can you take to work, assuming you want to
get there as quickly as possible?
(b) Now suppose you want to stop and get a donut on the way to work,
from your favorite donut shoppe on the corner of 8th st and 10th ave.
How many routes to work, via the donut shoppe, can you take (again,
ensuring the shortest possible route)?
(c) Disaster Strikes Gridtown: there is a pothole on 4th avenue between 5th
and 6th street. How many routes to work can you take avoiding that
unsightly (and dangerous) stretch of road?
(d) How many routes are there both avoiding the pothole and visiting the
donut shoppe?
12. Suppose you are ordering a large pizza from D.P. Dough. You want 3
distinct toppings, chosen from their list of 11 vegetarian toppings.
(a) How many choices do you have for your pizza?
(b) How many choices do you have for your pizza if you refuse to have
pineapple as one of your toppings?
(c) How many choices do you have for your pizza if you insist on having
pineapple as one of your toppings?
(d) How do the three questions above relate to each other?
Investigate!
You have a bunch of chips which come in five different colors: red,
blue, green, purple and yellow.
1. How many different two-chip stacks can you make if the bottom
chip must be red or blue? Explain your answer using both the
additive and multiplicative principles.
2. How many different three-chip stacks can you make if the bottom
chip must be red or blue and the top chip must be green, purple
or yellow? How does this problem relate to the previous one?
We know that we have them all listed above —there are 3 choices for
which letter we put first, then 2 choices for which letter comes next, which
leaves only 1 choice for the last letter. The multiplicative principle says we
multiply 3 · 2 · 1.
Example 1.3.1
How many permutations are there of the letters a, b, c, d, e, f ?
Solution. We do NOT want to try to list all of these out. However,
if we did, we would need to pick a letter to write down first. There
are 6 choices for that letter. For each choice of first letter, there are 5
choices for the second letter (we cannot repeat the first letter; we are
rearranging letters and only have one of each), and for each of those,
there are 4 choices for the third, 3 choices for the fourth, 2 choices
for the fifth and finally only 1 choice for the last letter. So there are
6 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1 720 permutations of the 6 letters.
Permutations of n elements
There are n! n · (n − 1) · (n − 2) · · · · · 2 · 1 permutations of n (distinct)
elements.
these bijections as
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
f
3 1 5 8 7 6 2 4
P(10, 4) 10 · 9 · 8 · 7.
Notice again that P(10, 4) starts out looking like 10!, but we stop after 7.
We can formally account for this “stopping” by dividing away the part of the
factorial we do not want:
10 · 9 · 8 · 7 · 6 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1 10!
P(10, 4) .
6·5·4·3·2·1 6!
Careful: The factorial in the denominator is not 4! but rather (10 −
4)!.
66 1. Counting
k-permutations of n elements
n!
P(n, k) .
(n − k)!
n
Closed formula for k
n n!
k (n − k)!k!
Example 1.3.5
You decide to have a dinner party. Even though you are incredibly
popular and have 14 different friends, you only have enough chairs
to invite 6 of them.
Solution.
1. You must simply choose 6 friends from a group of 14. This can
be done in 14 6 ways. We can find this number either by using
14!
Pascal’s triangle or the closed formula: 8!·6! 3003.
2. Here you must count all the ways you can permute 6 friends
chosen from a group of 14. So the answer is P(14, 6), which can
be calculated as 14!
8! 2192190.
Notice that we can think of this counting problem as a question
about counting functions: how many injective functions are
there from your set of 6 chairs to your set of 14 friends (the
functions are injective because you can’t have a single chair go
to two of your friends).
68 1. Counting
How are these numbers related? Notice that P(14, 6) is much larger
14 14
than 6 . This makes sense. 6 picks 6 friends, but P(14, 6) arranges
the 6 friends as well as picks them. In fact, we can say exactly how
much larger P(14, 6) is. In both counting problems we choose 6 out
of 14 friends. For the first one, we stop there, at 3003 ways. But for
the second counting problem, each of those 3003 choices of 6 friends
can be arranged in exactly 6! ways. So now we have 3003 · 6! choices
and that is exactly 2192190.
Alternatively, look at the first problem another way. We want to
select 6 out of 14 friends, but we do not care about the order they are
selected in. To select 6 out of 14 friends, we might try this:
14 · 13 · 12 · 11 · 10 · 9.
14 · 13 · 12 · 11 · 10 · 9
.
6!
Note that another way to write this is
14!
.
8! · 6!
which is what we had originally.
Exercises
1. A pizza parlor offers 10 toppings.
(a) How many 3-topping pizzas could they put on their menu? Assume
double toppings are not allowed.
(b) How many total pizzas are possible, with between zero and ten toppings
(but not double toppings) allowed?
(c) The pizza parlor will list the 10 toppings in two equal-sized columns on
their menu. How many ways can they arrange the toppings in the left
column?
the left until you get to second number, then to the right again to the third
number. The numbers must be distinct. How many different combinations
are possible?
3. Using the digits 2 through 8, find the number of different 5-digit numbers
such that:
(a) Digits can be used more than once.
(b) Digits cannot be repeated, but can come in any order.
(c) Digits cannot be repeated and must be written in increasing order.
(d) Which of the above counting questions is a combination and which is a
permutation? Explain why this makes sense.
4. How many triangles are there with vertices from the points shown below?
Note, we are not allowing degenerate triangles - ones with all three vertices
on the same line, but we do allow non-right triangles. Explain why your
answer is correct.
Hint. You need exactly two points on either the x- or y-axis, but don’t
over-count the right triangles.
5. How many quadrilaterals can you draw using the dots below as vertices
(corners)?
11. How many different seating arrangements are possible for King Arthur
and his 9 knights around their round table?
12. Consider sets A and B with |A| 10 and |B| 17.
(a) How many functions f : A → B are there?
(b) How many functions f : A → B are injective?
n!
14. We have seen that the formula for P(n, k) is . Your task here is to
(n − k)!
explain why this is the right formula.
(a) Suppose you have 12 chips, each a different color. How many different
stacks of 5 chips can you make? Explain your answer and why it is the
same as using the formula for P(12, 5).
(b) Using the scenario of the 12 chips again, what does 12! count? What
does 7! count? Explain.
(c) Explain why it makes sense to divide 12! by 7! when computing P(12, 5)
(in terms of the chips).
1.4. Combinatorial Proofs 71
(d) Does your explanation work for numbers other than 12 and 5? Explain
the formula P(n, k) (n−k)!
n!
using the variables n and k.
Investigate!
1. The Stanley Cup is decided in a best of 7 tournament between
two teams. In how many ways can your team win? Let’s answer
this question two ways:
(a) How many of the 7 games does your team need to win?
How many ways can this happen?
(b) What if the tournament goes all 7 games? So you win the
last game. How many ways can the first 6 games go down?
(c) What if the tournament goes just 6 games? How many ways
can this happen? What about 5 games? 4 games?
(d) What are the two different ways to compute the number
of ways your team can win? Write down an equation in-
volving binomial coefficients (that is, nk ’s). What pattern
in Pascal’s triangle is this an example of?
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
1 6 15 20 15 6 1
1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1
There are lots of patterns hidden away in the triangle, enough to fill a
reasonably sized book. Here are just a few of the most obvious ones:
2. Any entry not on the border is the sum of the two entries above it.
3. The triangle is symmetric. In any row, entries on the left side are
mirrored on the right side.
4. The sum of all entries on a given row is a power of 2. (You should check
this!)
We would like to state these observations in a more precise way, and then
prove that they are correct. Now each entry in Pascal’s triangle is in fact a
0
binomial coefficient. The 1 on the very top of the triangle is 0 . The next row
(which we will call row 1, even though it is not the top-most row) consists of
1 1
0 and 1 . Row 4 (the row 1, 4, 6, 4, 1) consists of the binomial coefficients
4 4 4 4 4
.
0 1 2 3 4
1. n
0 1 and n
n 1.
2. n
k n−1
k−1 + k .
n−1
3. n
k n−k .
n
4. n
0 + n
1 + n
2 +···+ n
n 2n .
1.4. Combinatorial Proofs 73
Here’s how you might do that for the second identity above.
Example 1.4.1
Give an algebraic proof for the binomial identity
n−1 n−1
n
+ .
k k−1 k
Solution.
and
n−1 (n − 1)!
.
k (n − 1 − k)!k!
Thus, starting with the right-hand side of the equation:
This is certainly a valid proof, but also is entirely useless. Even if you
understand the proof perfectly, it does not tell you why the identity is true. A
74 1. Counting
better approach would be to explain what nk means and then say why that is
also what n−1 means. Let’s see how this works for the four identities
n−1
k−1 + k
we observed above.
Example 1.4.2
Explain why n0 1 and n
1.
n
weight 0. There is only one such string, the string of all 0’s. So n0 1.
Similarly nn is the number of n-bit strings with weight n. There is
only one string with this property, the string of all 1’s.
Another way: n0 gives the number of subsets of a set of size n
containing 0 elements. There is only one such subset, the empty set.
n
n gives the number of subsets containing n elements. The only such
subset is the original set (of all elements).
Example 1.4.3
Explain why n
k n−1
k−1 + k .
n−1
bits and now k of them must be 1’s). Since there are n−1 bit strings
k
containing n − 1 bits with k 1’s, that is the number of length n bit
strings with k 1’s which start with a 0. Therefore k k−1 + k .
n n−1 n−1
Another way: consider the question, how many ways can you
select k pizza toppings from a menu containing n choices? One way to
do this is just nk . Another way to answer the same question is to first
decide whether or not you want anchovies. If you do want anchovies,
you still need to pick k − 1 toppings, now from just n − 1 choices.
That can be done in n−1 k−1 ways. If you do not want anchovies, then
you still need to select k toppings from n − 1 choices (the anchovies
1.4. Combinatorial Proofs 75
are out). You can do that in n−1 ways. Since the choices with
k
anchovies are disjoint from the choices without anchovies, the total
choices are n−1 + k . But wait. We answered the same question
n−1
k−1
intwo different ways, so the two answers must be the same. Thus
n
k n−1
k−1 + n−1
k .
You can also explain (prove) this identity by counting subsets, or
even lattice paths.
Example 1.4.4
Prove the binomial identity k n−k .
n n
Example 1.4.5
Prove the binomial identity n
0 + n
1 + n
2 +···+ n
n 2n .
Solution. Let’s do a “pizza proof” again. We need to find a question
about pizza toppings which has 2n as the answer. How about this: If
a pizza joint offers n toppings, how many pizzas can you build using
76 1. Counting
.
• ..
The total number of possible pizzas will be the sum of these, which
is exactly the left-hand side of the identity we are trying to prove.
Again, we could have proved the identity using subsets, bit strings,
or lattice paths (although the lattice path argument is a little tricky).
More Proofs
The explanatory proofs given in the above examples are typically called com-
binatorial proofs. In general, to give a combinatorial proof for a binomial
identity, say A B you do the following:
1. Find a counting problem you will be able to answer in two ways.
2. Explain why one answer to the counting problem is A.
3. Explain why the other answer to the counting problem is B.
Since both A and B are the answers to the same question, we must have A B.
The tricky thing is coming up with the question. This is not always
obvious, but it gets easier the more counting problems you solve. You will
start to recognize types of answers as the answers to types of questions.
More often what will happen is you will be solving a counting problem and
happen to think up two different ways of finding the answer. Now you have
a binomial identity and the proof is right there. The proof is the problem you
just solved together with your two solutions.
For example, consider this counting question:
How many 10-letter words use exactly four A’s, three B’s, two C’s
and one D?
Let’s try to solve this problem. We have 10 spots for letters to go. Four of
those need to be A’s. We can pick the four A-spots in 10 ways. Now where
4
can we put the B’s? Well there are only 6 spots left, we need to pick 3 of
them. This can be done in 63 ways. The two C’s need to go in two of the 3
remaining spots, so we have 32 ways of doing that. That leaves just one spot
of the D, but we could write that 1 choice as 11 . Thus the answer is:
10 6 3 1
.
4 3 2 1
But why stop there? We can find the answer another way too. First let’s
decide where to put the one
D: we have 10 spots, we need to choose 1 of them,
so this can be done in 10
1 ways. Next, choose one of the 9
2 ways to place the
two C’s. We now have 7 spots left, and three of them need to be filled with
B’s. There are 73 ways to do this. Finally the A’s can be placed in 44 (that is,
only one) ways. So another answer to the question is
10 9 7 4
.
1 2 3 4
Interesting. This gives us the binomial identity:
10 6 3 1 10 9 7 4
.
4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4
Here are a couple of other binomial identities with combinatorial proofs.
78 1. Counting
Example 1.4.6
Prove the identity
n+2
1n + 2(n − 1) + 3(n − 2) + · · · + (n − 1)2 + n1 .
3
Proof. Consider the question “How many 3-element subsets are there
of the set {1, 2, 3, . . . , n + 2}?” We answer this in two ways:
Answer 1: We must select 3 elements from the collection of n + 2
elements. This can be done in n+2 ways.
3
Answer 2: Break this problem up into cases by what the middle
number in the subset is. Say each subset is {a, b, c} written in increas-
ing order. We count the number of subsets for each distinct value of
b. The smallest possible value of b is 2, and the largest is n + 1.
When b 2, there are 1 · n subsets: 1 choice for a and n choices (3
through n + 2) for c.
When b 3, there are 2 · (n − 1) subsets: 2 choices for a and n − 1
choices for c.
When b 4, there are 3 · (n − 2) subsets: 3 choices for a and n − 2
choices for c.
And so on. When b n + 1, there are n choices for a and only 1
choice for c, so n · 1 subsets.
Therefore the total number of subsets is
n+2
1n + 2(n − 1) + 3(n − 2) + · · · + (n − 1)2 + n1 . qed
3
1.4. Combinatorial Proofs 79
Example 1.4.7
Prove the binomial identity
2 2 2 2
2n
n n n n
+ + +···+ .
0 1 2 n n
Solution. We will give two different proofs of this fact. The first
will be very similar to the previous example (counting subsets). The
second proof is a little slicker, using lattice paths.
Proof. Consider the question: “How many pizzas can you make using
n toppings when there are 2n toppings to choose from?”
Answer 1: There are 2n toppings, from which you must choose n.
This can be done in 2n n ways.
Answer 2: Divide the toppings into two groups of n toppings
(perhaps n meats and n veggies). Any choice of n toppings must
include some number from the first group and some number from
the second group. Consider each possible number of meat toppings
separately:
0 meats: n0 nn , since you need to choose 0 of the n meats and n
of the n veggies.
1 meat: n1 n−1 , since you need 1 of n meats so n − 1 of n veggies.
n
2 meats: n2 n−2n
. Choose 2 meats and the remaining n−2 toppings
from the n veggies.
And so on. The last case is n meats, which can be done in nn n0
ways.
Thus the total number of pizzas possible is
n n n n n n n n
+ + +···+ .
0 n 1 n−1 2 n−2 n 0
do indeed get
2 2 2 2
n n n n
+ + +···+ .
0 1 2 n
Since these two answers are answers to the same question, they
must be equal, and thus
2 2 2 2
2n
n n n n
+ + +···+ . qed
0 1 2 n n
80 1. Counting
Proof. Consider the question: How many lattice paths are there from
(0, 0) to (n, n)?
Answer 1: We must travel 2n steps, and n of them must be in the
up direction. Thus there are 2n n paths.
Answer 2: Note that any path from (0, 0) to (n, n) must cross the
line x + y n. That is, any path must pass through exactly one of the
points: (0, n), (1, n − 1), (2, n − 2), . . . , (n, 0). For example, this is what
happens in the case n 4:
(0,4) (4,4)
(1,3)
(2,2)
(3,1)
(4,0)
(0,0) x+y4
How many paths pass through (0, n)? To get to that point, you
must travel n units, and 0 of them are to the right, so there are n0
ways to get to (0, n). From (0, n) to (n, n) takes n steps, and 0 of them
are up. So there
are 0 ways to get from (0, n) to (n, n). Therefore
n
there are n0 n0 paths from (0, 0) to (n, n) through the point (0, n).
What about through (1, n − 1). There are n1 paths to get there (n
steps, 1 to the right) and n1 paths
to complete the journey to (n, n)
(n steps, 1 up). So there are n1 n1 paths from (0, 0) to (n, n) through
(1, n − 1).
In general, to get to (n, n) through the point (k, n − k) we have nk
paths to the midpoint and then nk paths from the midpoint to (n, n).
So there are k k paths from (0, 0) to (n, n) through (k, n − k).
n n
All together then the total paths from (0, 0) to (n, n) passing
through exactly one of these midpoints is
2 2 2 2
n n n n
+ + +···+ .
0 1 2 n
1.4. Combinatorial Proofs 81
Since these two answers are answers to the same question, they
must be equal, and thus
2 2 2 2
2n
n n n n
+ + +···+ . qed
0 1 2 n n
Exercises
1. Prove the identity n
k n−1
k−1 + n−1
k using a question about subsets.
2. Give a combinatorial proof of the identity 2 + 2 + 2 3 · 2.
3. Give a combinatorial proof for the identity 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + n 2 .
n+1
4. A woman is getting married. She has 15 best friends but can only select 6
of them to be her bridesmaids, one of which needs to be her maid of honor.
How many ways can she do this?
(a) What if she first selects the 6 bridesmaids, and then selects one of them
to be the maid of honor?
(b) What if she first selects her maid of honor, and then 5 other bridemaids?
15 14
(c) Explain why 6 6 15 5 .
6. Consider the bit strings in B62 (bit strings of length 6 and weight 2).
(a) How many of those bit strings start with 1?
(b) How many of those bit strings start with 01?
(c) How many of those bit strings start with 001?
(d) Are there any other strings we have not counted yet? Which ones, and
how many are there?
(e) How many bit strings are there total in B62 ?
(f) What binomial identity have you just given a combinatorial proof for?
7. Let’s count ternary digit strings, that is, strings in which each digit can be
0, 1, or 2.
(a) How many ternary digit strings contain exactly n digits?
(b) How many ternary digit strings contain exactly n digits and n 2’s.
(c) How many ternary digit strings contain exactly n digits and n − 1 2’s.
(Hint: where can you put the non-2 digit, and then what could it be?)
(d) How many ternary digit strings contain exactly n digits and n − 2 2’s.
(Hint: see previous hint)
(e) How many ternary digit strings contain exactly n digits and n − k 2’s.
82 1. Counting
(f) How many ternary digit strings contain exactly n digits and no 2’s.
(Hint: what kind of a string is this?)
(g) Use the above parts to give a combinatorial proof for the identity
n n n n n
+2 + 22 + 23 + · · · + 2n 3n .
0 1 2 3 n
8. How many ways are there to rearrange the letters in the word “rearrange”?
Answer this question in at least two different ways to establish a binomial
identity.
9. Give a combinatorial proof for the identity P(n, k) n
k k!
Investigate!
Suppose you have some number of identical Rubik’s cubes to distribute
to your friends. Imagine you start with a single row of the cubes.
1. Find the number of different ways you can distribute the cubes
provided:
3. What if each person were required to get at least one cube? How
would your answers change?
You have 7 cookies to give to 4 kids. How many ways can you do
this?
Take a moment to think about how you might solve this problem. You may
assume that it is acceptable to give a kid no cookies. Also, the cookies are all
identical and the order in which you give out the cookies does not matter.
Before solving the problem, here is a wrong answer: You might guess
that the answer should be 47 because for each of the 7 cookies, there are 4
choices of kids to which you can give the cookie. This is reasonable, but
wrong. To see why, consider a few possible outcomes: we could assign the
first six cookies to kid A, and the seventh cookie to kid B. Another outcome
would assign the first cookie to kid B and the six remaining cookies to kid A.
Both outcomes are included in the 47 answer. But for our counting problem,
both outcomes are really the same – kid A gets six cookies and kid B gets one
cookie.
What do outcomes actually look like? How can we represent them? One
approach would be to write an outcome as a string of four numbers like this:
3112,
which represent the outcome in which the first kid gets 3 cookies, the second
and third kid each get 1 cookie, and the fourth kid gets 2 cookies. Represented
this way, the order in which the numbers occur matters. 1312 is a different
outcome, because the first kid gets a one cookie instead of 3. Each number in
the string can be any integer between 0 and 7. But the answer is not 74 . We
need the sum of the numbers to be 7.
Another way we might represent outcomes is to write a string of seven
letters:
ABAADCD,
which represents that the first cookie goes to kid A, the second cookie goes
to kid B, the third and fourth cookies go to kid A, and so on. In fact, this
outcome is identical to the previous one—A gets 3 cookies, B and C get 1
each and D gets 2. Each of the seven letters in the string can be any of the 4
possible letters (one for each kid), but the number of such strings is not 47 ,
because here order does not matter. In fact, another way to write the same
outcome is
AAABCDD.
This will be the preferred representation of the outcome. Since we can
write the letters in any order, we might as well write them in alphabetical order
for the purposes of counting. So we will write all the A’s first, then all the B’s,
and so on.
Now think about how you could specify such an outcome. All we really
need to do is say when to switch from one letter to the next. In terms of
84 1. Counting
cookies, we need to say after how many cookies do we stop giving cookies to
the first kid and start giving cookies to the second kid. And then after how
many do we switch to the third kid? And after how many do we switch to
the fourth? So yet another way to represent an outcome is like this:
∗ ∗ ∗| ∗ | ∗ | ∗ ∗
Three cookies go to the first kid, then we switch and give one cookie to
the second kid, then switch, one to the third kid, switch, two to the fourth
kid. Notice that we need 7 stars and 3 bars – one star for each cookie, and one
bar for each switch between kids, so one fewer bars than there are kids (we
don’t need to switch after the last kid – we are done).
Why have we done all of this? Simple: to count the number of ways to
distribute 7 cookies to 4 kids, all we need to do is count how many stars and
bars charts there are. But a stars and bars chart is just a string of symbols,
some stars and some bars. If instead of stars and bars we would use 0’s and
1’s, it would just be a bit string. We know how to count those.
Before we get too excited, we should make sure that really any string of
(in our case) 7 stars and 3 bars corresponds to a different way to distribute
cookies to kids. In particular consider a string like this:
| ∗ ∗ ∗ || ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ | ∗ ||
After all that work we are finally ready to count. Each way to distribute
cookies corresponds to a stars and bars chart with 7 stars and 3 bars. So there
are 10 symbols, and we must choose 3 of them to be bars. Thus:
10
There are ways to distribute 7 cookies to 4 kids.
3
While we are at it, we can also answer a related question: how many ways
are there to distribute 7 cookies to 4 kids so that each kid gets at least one
cookie? What can you say about the corresponding stars and bars charts?
The charts must start and end with at least one star (so that kids A and D) get
cookies, and also no two bars can be adjacent (so that kids B and C are not
skipped). One way to assure this is to only place bars in the spaces between
1.5. Stars and Bars 85
the stars. With 7 stars, there are 6 spots between the stars, so we must choose
6
3 of those 6 spots to fill with bars. Thus there are 3 ways to distribute 7
cookies to 4 kids giving at least one cookie to each kid.
Another (and more general) way to approach this modified problem is to
first give each kid one cookie. Now the remaining 3 cookies can be distributed
to the 4 kids without restrictions. So we have 3 stars and 3 bars for a total of
6 symbols, 3 of which must be bars. So again we see that there are 63 ways
to distribute the cookies.
Stars and bars can be used in counting problems other than kids and
cookies. Here are a few examples:
Example 1.5.1
Your favorite mathematical pizza chain offers 10 toppings. How many
pizzas can you make if you are allowed 6 toppings? The order of
toppings does not matter but now you are allowed repeats. So one
possible pizza is triple sausage, double pineapple, and onions.
Solution. We get 6 toppings (counting possible repeats). Represent
each of these toppings as a star. Think of going down the menu
one topping at a time: you see anchovies first, and skip to the next,
sausage. You say yes to sausage 3 times (use 3 stars), then switch
to the next topping on the list. You keep skipping until you get to
pineapple, which you say yes to twice. Another switch and you are at
onions. You say yes once. Then you keep switching until you get to
the last topping, never saying yes again (since you already have said
yes 6 times. There are 10 toppings to choose from, so we must switch
from considering one topping to the next 9 times. These are the bars.
Now that we are confident that we have the right number of stars
and bars, we answer the question simply: there are 6 stars and 9 bars,
so 15 symbols. We need to pick 9 of them to be bars, so there number
of pizzas possible is
15
.
9
Example 1.5.2
How many 7 digit phone numbers are there in which the digits are
non-increasing? That is, every digit is less than or equal to the previ-
ous one.
Solution. We need to decide on 7 digits so we will use 7 stars. The
bars will represent a switch from each possible single digit number
down the next smaller one. So the phone number 866-5221 is repre-
sented by the stars and bars chart
| ∗ || ∗ ∗| ∗ ||| ∗ ∗| ∗ |
86 1. Counting
There are 10 choices for each digit (0-9) so we must switch between
choices 9 times. We have 7 stars and 9 bars, so the total number of
phone numbers is
16
.
9
Example 1.5.3
How many integer solutions are there to the equation
x1 + x2 + x 3 + x4 + x5 13.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
f g .
a b c c c c c b a c c c c c
But these two functions would correspond to the same cookie distribution:
kids a and b each get one cookie, kid c gets the rest (and none for kid d).
The point: elements of the domain are distinguished, cookies are indis-
tinguishable. This is analagous to the distinction between permutations (like
counting functions) and combinations (not).
Exercises
1. A multiset is a collection of objects, just like a set, but can contain an object
more than once (the order of the elements still doesn’t matter). For example,
{1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 7} is a multiset of size 6.
(a) How many sets of size 5 can be made using the 10 numeric digits 0
through 9?
(b) How many multisets of size 5 can be made using the 10 numeric digits 0
through 9?
2. Each of the counting problems below can be solved with stars and bars.
For each, say what outcome the diagram
∗ ∗ ∗| ∗ || ∗ ∗|
represents, if there are the correct number of stars and bars for the problem.
Otherwise, say why the diagram does not represent any outcome, and what
a correct diagram would look like.
(a) How many ways are there to select a handful of 6 jellybeans from a jar
that contains 5 different flavors?
(b) How many ways can you distribute 5 identical lollipops to 6 kids?
(c) How many 6-letter words can you make using the 5 vowels?
(d) How many solutions are there to the equation x 1 + x2 + x3 + x4 6.
3. After gym class you are tasked with putting the 14 identical dodgeballs
away into 5 bins.
(a) How many ways can you do this if there are no restrictions?
(b) How many ways can you do this if each bin must contain at least one
dodgeball?
5. Using the digits 2 through 8, find the number of different 5-digit numbers
such that:
(a) Digits cannot be repeated and must be written in increasing order. For
example, 23678 is okay, but 32678 is not.
(b) Digits can be repeated and must be written in non-decreasing order. For
example, 24448 is okay, but 24484 is not.
6. When playing Yahtzee, you roll five regular 6-sided dice. How many
different outcomes are possible from a single roll? The order of the dice does
not matter.
7. Your friend tells you she has 7 coins in her hand (just pennies, nickels,
dimes and quarters). If you guess how many of each kind of coin she has,
she will give them to you. If you guess randomly, what is the probability that
you will be correct?
8. How many integer solutions to x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 25 are there for which
x1 ≥ 1, x2 ≥ 2, x3 ≥ 3 and x 4 ≥ 4?
9. Solve the three counting problems below. Then say why it makes sense
that they all have the same answer. That is, say how you can interpret them
as each other.
(a) How many ways are there to distribute 8 cookies to 3 kids?
(b) How many solutions in non-negative integers are there to x + y + z 8?
(c) How many different packs of 8 crayons can you make using crayons that
come in red, blue and yellow?
11. Conic, your favorite math themed fast food drive-in offers 20 flavors which
can be added to your soda. You have enough money to buy a large soda with
4 added flavors. How many different soda concoctions can you order if:
(a) You refuse to use any of the flavors more than once?
(b) You refuse repeats but care about the order the flavors are added?
(c) You allow yourself multiple shots of the same flavor?
1.6. Advanced Counting Using PIE 89
(d) You allow yourself multiple shots, and care about the order the flavors
are added?
Investigate!
You have 11 identical mini key-lime pies to give to 4 children. However,
you don’t want any kid to get more than 3 pies. How many ways can
you distribute the pies?
1. How many ways are there to distribute the pies without any
restriction?
2. Let’s get rid of the ways that one or more kid gets too many pies.
How many ways are there to distribute the pies if Al gets too
many pies? What if Bruce gets too many? Or Cat? Or Dent?
3. What if two kids get too many pies? How many ways can this
happen? Does it matter which two kids you pick to overfeed?
4. Is it possible that three kids get too many pies? If so, how many
ways can this happen?
5. How should you combine all the numbers you found above to
answer the original question?
Suppose now you have 13 pies and 7 children. No child can have
more than 2 pies. How many ways can you distribute the pies?
Example 1.6.1
Three kids, Alberto, Bernadette, and Carlos, decide to share 11 cook-
ies. They wonder how many ways they could split the cookies up
provided that none of them receive more than 4 cookies (someone
receiving no cookies is for some reason acceptable to these kids).
Solution. Without the “no more than 4” restriction, the answer
13
would be 2 , using 11 stars and 2 bars (separating the three kids).
Now count the number of ways that one or more of the kids violates
the condition, i.e., gets at least 4 cookies.
Let A be the set of outcomes in which Alberto gets more than 4
cookies. Let B be the set of outcomes in which Bernadette gets more
than 4 cookies. Let C be the set of outcomes in which Carlos gets
more than 4 cookies. We then are looking (for the sake of subtraction)
for the size of the set A ∪ B ∪ C. Using PIE, we must find the sizes of
|A|, |B|, |C|, |A ∩ B| and so on. Here is what we find.
8 8 8 3 3 3
|A ∪ B ∪ C| + + − − − + 0 75.
2 2 2 2 2 2
For four or more sets, we do not write down a formula for PIE. Instead, we
just think of the principle: add up all the elements in single sets, then subtract
out things you counted twice (elements in the intersection of a pair of sets),
then add back in elements you removed too often (elements in the intersection
of groups of three sets), then take back out elements you added back in too
often (elements in the intersection of groups of four sets), then add back in,
take back out, add back in, etc. This would be very difficult if it wasn’t for the
fact that in these problems, all the cardinalities of the single sets are equal,
as are all the cardinalities of the intersections of two sets, and that of three
sets, and so on. Thus we can group all of these together and multiply by how
many different combinations of 1, 2, 3, . . . sets there are.
Example 1.6.2
How many ways can you distribute 10 cookies to 4 kids so that no kid
gets more than 2 cookies?
Solution. There are 13 3 ways to distribute 10 cookies to 4 kids (using
10 stars and 3 bars). We will subtract all the outcomes in which a kid
gets 3 or more cookies. How many outcomes are there like that?
We can force kid A to eat 3 or more cookies by giving him 3 cookies
before we start. Doing so reduces the problem to one in which we
have 7 cookies to give to 4 kids without any restrictions. In that case,
we have 7 stars (the 7 remaining cookies) and 3 bars (one less than
the number of kids) so we can distribute the cookies in 10 3 ways. Of
course we could choose any one of the 4 kids to give too many cookies,
so it would appear that there are 41 10 ways to distribute the cookies
3
giving too many to one kid. But in fact, we have over counted.
We must get rid ofthe outcomes in which two kids have too many
cookies. There are 42 ways to select 2 kids to give extra cookies. It
takes 6 cookies to do this, leaving only 4 cookies. So we have 4 stars
92 1. Counting
13 4 10 4 7 4 4
− − +
3 1 3 2 3 3 3
which is
286 − [480 − 210 + 16] 0.
This makes sense: there is NO way to distribute 10 cookies to
4 kids and make sure that nobody gets more than 2. It is slightly
surprising that
13 4 10 4 7 4 4
− +
3 1 3 2 3 3 3
Just so you don’t think that these problems always have easier solutions,
consider the following example.
Example 1.6.3
Earlier (Example 1.5.3) we counted the number of solutions to the
equation
x1 + x2 + x3 + x 4 + x5 13
where x i ≥ 0 for each x i .
How many of those solutions have 0 ≤ x i ≤ 3 for each x i ?
Solution. We must subtract off the number of solutions in which
one or more of the variables has a value greater than 3. We will need
to use PIE because counting the number of solutions for which each
of the five variables separately are greater than 3 counts solutions
multiple times. Here is what we get:
17
• Total solutions: 4 .
1.6. Advanced Counting Using PIE 93
We also need to account for the fact that we could choose any of the
five variables in the place of x1 above (so there will be 51 outcomes
like this), any pair of variables in the place of x1 and x 2 ( 52 outcomes)
and so on. It is because of this that the double counting occurs, so we
need to use PIE. All together we have that the number of solutions
with 0 ≤ x i ≤ 3 is
17 5 13 5 9 5 5
− − + 15.
4 1 4 2 4 3 4
Counting Derangements
Investigate!
For your senior prank, you decide to switch the nameplates on your
favorite 5 professors’ doors. So that none of them feel left out, you
want to make sure that all of the nameplates end up on the wrong
door. How many ways can this be accomplished?
leaving only 1 choice for the last). How many of these are derangements? If
you list out all 24 permutations and eliminate those which are not derange-
ments, you will be left with just 9 derangements. Let’s see how we can get
that number using PIE.
Example 1.6.4
How many derangements are there of 4 elements?
Solution. We count all permutations, and subtract those which are
not derangements. There are 4! 24 permutations of 4 elements.
Now for a permutation to not be a derangement, at least one of the
4 elements must be fixed. There are 41 choices for which single
element we fix. Once fixed, we need to find a permutation of the other
three elements. There are 3! permutations on 3 elements. But now
we have counted too many non-derangements, so we must subtract
those permutations which fix two elements. There are 42 choices for
which two elements we fix, and then for each pair, 2! permutations of
the remaining elements. But this subtracts too many, so add back in
permutations which fix 3 elements, all 43 1! of them. Finally subtract
the 44 0! permutations (recall 0! 1) which fix all four elements. All
together we get that the number of derangements of 4 elements is:
4 4 4 4
4! − 3! − 2! + 1! − 0! 24 − 15 9.
1 2 3 4
Example 1.6.5
Five gentlemen attend a party, leaving their hats at the door. At the
end of the party, they hastily grab hats on their way out. How many
different ways could this happen so that none of the gentlemen leave
with their own hat?
Solution. We are counting derangements on 5 elements. There are
5! ways for the gentlemen to grab hats in any order—but many of
these permutations will result in someone getting their own hat. So
we subtract all the ways in which one or more of the men get their
own hat. In other words, we subtract the non-derangements. Doing
so requires PIE. Thus the answer is:
5 5 5 5 5
5! − 4! − 3! + 2! − 1! + 0! .
1 2 3 4 5
1.6. Advanced Counting Using PIE 95
Counting Functions
Investigate!
• Consider all functions f : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. How
many functions are there all together? How many of those are
injective? Remember, a function is an injection if every input
goes to a different output.
Solution.
In Example 1.1.5 we saw how to count all functions (using the multi-
plicative principle) and in Example 1.3.4 we learned how to count injective
functions (using permutations). Surjective functions are not as easily counted
(unless the size of the domain is smaller than the codomain, in which case
there are none).
The idea is to count the functions which are not surjective, and then
subtract that from the total number of functions. This works very well when
the codomain has two elements in it:
Example 1.6.7
How many functions f : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → {a, b} are surjective?
Solution. There are 25 functions all together, two choices for where
to send each of the 5 elements of the domain. Now of these, the
functions which are not surjective must exclude one or more elements
of the codomain from the range. So first, consider functions for which
a is not in the range. This can only happen one way: everything gets
sent to b. Alternatively, we could exclude b from the range. Then
1.6. Advanced Counting Using PIE 97
everything gets sent to a, so there is only one function like this. These
are the only ways in which a function could not be surjective (no
function excludes both a and b from the range) so there are exactly
25 − 2 surjective functions.
When there are three elements in the codomain, there are now three
choices for a single element to exclude from the range. Additionally, we
could pick pairs of two elements to exclude from the range, and we must
make sure we don’t over count these. It’s PIE time!
Example 1.6.8
How many functions f : {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → {a, b, c} are surjective?
Solution. Again start with the total number of functions: 35 (as each
of the five elements of the domain can go to any of three elements of
the codomain). Now we count the functions which are not surjective.
Start by excluding a from the range. Then we have two choices
(b or c) for where to send each of the five elements of the domain.
Thus there are 25 functions which exclude a from the range. Similarly,
there are 25 functions which exclude b, and another 25 which exclude
c. Now have we counted all functions which are not surjective? Yes,
but in fact, we have counted some multiple times. For example, the
function which sends everything to c was one of the 25 functions we
counted when we excluded a from the range, and also one of the
25 functions we counted when we excluded b from the range. We
must subtract out all the functions which specifically exclude two
elements from the range. There is 1 function when we exclude a and
b (everything goes to c), one function when we exclude a and c, and
one function when we exclude b and c.
We are using PIE: to count the functions which are not surjective,
we added up the functions which exclude a, b, and c separately,
then subtracted the functions which exclude pairs of elements. We
would then add back in the functions which exclude groups of three
elements, except that there are no such functions. We find that the
number of functions which are not surjective is
25 + 25 + 25 − 1 − 1 − 1 + 0.
3 5 3 5 3 5
2 − 1 + 0 .
1 2 3
3 5 3 5
5
3 − 2 − 1 150.
1 2
You might worry that to count surjective functions when the codomain
is larger than 3 elements would be too tedious. We need to use PIE but
with more than 3 sets the formula for PIE is very long. However, we have
lucked out. As we saw in the example above, the number of functions which
exclude a single element from the range is the same no matter which single
element is excluded. Similarly, the number of functions which exclude a pair
of elements will be the same for every pair. With larger codomains, we will
see the same behavior with groups of 3, 4, and more elements excluded. So
instead of adding/subtracting each of these, we can simply add or subtract
all of them at once, if you know how many there are. This works just like
it did in for the other types of counting questions in this section, only now
the size of the various combinations of sets is a number raised to a power, as
opposed to a binomial coefficient or factorial. Here’s what happens with 4
and 5 elements in the codomain.
Example 1.6.9
Solution.
4 5 4 5 4 5
3 − 2 + 1 .
1 2 3
We can now say that the number of functions which are surjec-
tive is:
4 5 4 5 4 5
5
4 − 3 − 2 + 1 .
1 2 3
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
55 − 4 − 3 + 2 − 1 .
1 2 3 4
These are not just a few more examples of the techniques we have devel-
oped in this chapter. Quite the opposite: everything we have learned in this
chapter are examples of counting functions!
Example 1.6.10
How many 5-letter words can you make using the eight letters a
through h? How many contain no repeated letters?
Solution. By now it should be no surprise that there are 85 words,
and P(8, 5) words without repeated letters. The new piece here is
that we are actually counting functions. For the first problem, we are
counting all functions from {1, 2, . . . , 5} to {a, b, . . . , h}. The numbers
in the domain represent the position of the letter in the word, the
codomain represents the letter that could be assigned to that position.
If we ask for no repeated letters, we are asking for injective functions.
If A and B are any sets with |A| 5 and |B| 8, then the number
of functions f : A → B is 85 and the number of injections is P(8, 5).
So if you can represent your counting problem as a function counting
problem, most of the work is done.
Example 1.6.11
How many subsets are there of {1, 2, . . . , 9}? How many 9-bit strings
are there (of any weight)?
Solution. We saw in Section 1.2 that the answer to both these ques-
tions is 29 , as we can say yes or no (or 0 or 1) to each of the 9 elements
in the set (positions in the bit-string). But 29 also looks like the answer
you get from counting functions. In fact, if you count all functions
f : A → B with |A| 9 and |B| 2, this is exactly what you get.
This makes sense! Let A {1, 2, . . . , 9} and B { y, n}. We are
assigning each element of the set either a yes or a no. Or in the
language of bit-strings, we would take the 9 positions in the bit string
as our domain and the set {0, 1} as the codomain.
Now P(9, 3) counts these as different outcomes correctly, but 93 will count
Exercises
1. The dollar menu at your favorite tax-free fast food restaurant has 7 items.
You have $10 to spend. How many different meals can you buy if you spend
all your money and:
(a) Purchase at least one of each item.
(b) Possibly skip some items.
(c) Don’t get more than 2 of any particular item.
2. After a late night of math studying, you and your friends decide to go to
your favorite tax-free fast food Mexican restaurant, Burrito Chime. You decide
to order off of the dollar menu, which has 7 items. Your group has $16 to
spend (and will spend all of it).
(a) How many different orders are possible? Explain. (The order in which
the order is placed does not matter - just which and how many of each
item that is ordered.)
(b) How many different orders are possible if you want to get at least one of
each item? Explain.
(c) How many different orders are possible if you don’t get more than 4 of
any one item? Explain.
3. After another gym class you are tasked with putting the 14 identical dodge-
balls away into 5 bins. This time, no bin can hold more than 6 balls. How
many ways can you clean up?
4. Consider the equation x1 + x2 + x3 + x 4 15. How many solutions are
there with 2 ≤ x i ≤ 5 for all i ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4}?
5. Suppose you planned on giving 7 gold stars to some of the 13 star students
in your class. Each student can receive at most one star. How many ways can
you do this? Use PIE, and also an easier method, and compare your results.
6. Based on the previous question, give a combinatorial proof for the identity:
n
n+k−1 n + k − (2j + 1)
n Õ n
− (−1) j+1 .
k k j k
j1
3 3 3
d3 3! − 2! − 1! + 0!
1 2 3
We can use the formula for nk to write this all in terms of factorials. After
simplifying, for d3 we would get
1 1 1
d3 3! 1 − + −
1 2 6
Generalize this to find a nicer formula for d n . Bonus: For large n, approxi-
mately what fraction of all permutations are derangements? Use your knowl-
edge of Taylor series from calculus.
1.7. Chapter Summary 103
Investigate!
Suppose you have a huge box of animal crackers containing plenty
of each of 10 different animals. For the counting questions below,
carefully examine their similarities and differences, and then give an
answer. The answers are all one of the following:
10 15
P(10, 6) 6 106 9 .
5. How many ways could you give 6 children one animal cracker
each?
6. How many ways could you give 6 children one animal cracker
each so that no two kids get the same animal?
8. Write a question
about giving animal crackers to kids that has
the answer 10
6 .
is in the list. Could you get this element more than once using your
proposed answer?
• Does order matter? Be careful here and be sure you know what your
answer really means. We usually say that order matters when you
get different outcomes when the same objects are selected in different
orders. Combinations and “Stars & Bars” are used when order does not
matter.
• There are four possibilities when it comes to order and repeats. If order
matters and repeats are allowed, the answer will look like n k . If order
matters and repeats are not allowed, we have P(n, k). If order doesn’t
matter and repeats are allowed, use stars and bars. If order doesn’t
matter and repeats are not allowed, use nk . But be careful: this only
applies when you are selecting things, and you should make sure you
know exactly what you are selecting before determining which case you
are in.
• Think about how you would represent your counting problem in terms
of sets or functions. We know how to count different sorts of sets and
different types of functions.
Chapter Review
1. You have 9 presents to give to your 4 kids. How many ways can this be
done if:
(a) The presents are identical, and each kid gets at least one present?
(b) The presents are identical, and some kids might get no presents?
(c) The presents are unique, and some kids might get no presents?
(d) The presents are unique and each kid gets at least one present?
2. For each of the following counting problems, say whether the answer is
10
4 , P(10, 4), or neither. If you answer is “neither,” say what the answer
should be instead.
(a) How many shortest lattice paths are there from (0, 0) to (10, 4)?
(b) If you have 10 bow ties, and you want to select 4 of them for next week,
how many choices do you have?
(c) Suppose you have 10 bow ties and you will wear one on each of the next
4 days. How many choices do you have?
(d) If you want to wear 4 of your 10 bow ties next week (Monday through
Sunday), how many ways can this be accomplished?
(e) Out of a group of 10 classmates, how many ways can you rank your top
4 friends?
(f) If 10 students come to their professor’s office but only 4 can fit at a time,
how different combinations of 4 students can see the prof first?
(g) How many 4 letter words can be made from the first 10 letters of the
alphabet?
(h) How many ways can you make the word “cake” from the first 10 letters
of the alphabet?
(i) How many ways are there to distribute 10 apples among 4 children?
(j) If you have 10 kids (and live in a shoe) and 4 types of cereal, how many
ways can your kids eat breakfast?
(k) How many ways can you arrange exactly 4 ones in a string of 10 binary
digits?
(l) You want to select 4 single digit numbers as your lotto picks. How many
choices do you have?
(m) 10 kids want ice-cream. You have 4 varieties. How many ways are there
to give the kids as much ice-cream as they want?
(n) How many 1-1 functions are there from {1, 2, . . . , 10} to {a, b, c, d}?
(o) How many surjective functions are there from {1, 2, . . . , 10} to {a, b, c, d}?
(p) Each of your 10 bow ties match 4 pairs of suspenders. How many outfits
can you make?
106 1. Counting
(q) After the party, the 10 kids each choose one of 4 party-favors. How many
outcomes?
(r) How many 6-elements subsets are there of the set {1, 2, . . . , 10}
(s) How many ways can you split up 11 kids into 5 teams?
(t) How many solutions are there to x1 + x 2 + · · · + x5 6 where each x i is
non-negative?
(u) Your band goes on tour. There are 10 cities within driving distance, but
only enough time to play 4 of them. How many choices do you have for
the cities on your tour?
(v) In how many different ways can you play the 4 cities you choose?
(w) Out of the 10 breakfast cereals available, you want to have 4 bowls. How
many ways can you do this?
(x) There are 10 types of cookies available. You want to make a 4 cookie
stack. How many different stacks can you make?
(y) From your home at (0,0) you want to go to either the donut shop at (5,4)
or the one at (3,6). How many paths could you take?
(z) How many 10-digit numbers do not contain a sub-string of 4 repeated
digits?
3. Recall, you own 3 regular ties and 5 bow ties. You realize that it would be
okay to wear more than two ties to your clown college interview.
(a) You must select some of your ties to wear. Everything is okay, from no
ties up to all ties. How many choices do you have?
(b) If you want to wear at least one regular tie and one bow tie, but are
willing to wear up to all your ties, how many choices do you have for
which ties to wear?
(c) How many choices do you have if you wear exactly 2 of the 3 regular
ties and 3 of the 5 bow ties?
(d) Once you have selected 2 regular and 3 bow ties, in how many orders
could you put the ties on, assuming you must have one of the three bow
ties on top?
11. You live in Grid-Town on the corner of 2nd and 3rd, and work in a building
on the corner of 10th and 13th. How many routes are there which take you
from home to work and then back home, but by a different route?
12. How many 10-bit strings start with 111 or end with 101 or both?
13. How many 10-bit strings of weight 6 start with 111 or end with 101 or
both?
14. How many 6 letter words made from the letters a, b, c, d, e , f without
repeats do not contain the sub-word “bad” in (a) consecutive letters? or (b)
not-necessarily consecutive letters (but in order)?
15. Explain using lattice paths why 2n .
Ín n
k0 k
108 1. Counting
16. Suppose you have 20 one-dollar bills to give out as prizes to your top 5
discrete math students. How many ways can you do this if:
(a) Each of the 5 students gets at least 1 dollar?
(b) Some students might get nothing?
(c) Each student gets at least 1 dollar but no more than 7 dollars?
18. How many functions map {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} onto {a, b, c, d} (i.e., how many
surjections are there)?
19. To thank your math professor for doing such an amazing job all semester,
you decide to bake Oscar cookies. You know how to make 10 different types
of cookies.
(a) If you want to give your professor 4 different types of cookies, how
many different combinations of cookie type can you select? Explain
your answer.
(b) To keep things interesting, you decide to make a different number of
each type of cookie. If again you want to select 4 cookie types, how
many ways can you select the cookie types and decide for which there
will be the most, second most, etc. Explain your answer.
(c) You change your mind again. This time you decide you will make a total
of 12 cookies. Each cookie could be any one of the 10 types of cookies
you know how to bake (and it’s okay if you leave some types out). How
many choices do you have? Explain.
(d) You realize that the previous plan did not account for presentation. This
time, you once again want to make 12 cookies, each one could be any one
of the 10 types of cookies. However, now you plan to shape the cookies
into the numerals 1, 2, . . . , 12 (and probably arrange them to make a
giant clock, but you haven’t decided on that yet). How many choices
do you have for which types of cookies to bake into which numerals?
Explain.
(e) The only flaw with the last plan is that your professor might not get to
sample all 10 different varieties of cookies. How many choices do you
have for which types of cookies to make into which numerals, given that
each type of cookie should be present at least once? Explain.
1.7. Chapter Summary 109
20. For which of the parts of the previous problem (Exercise 1.7.19) does it
make sense to interpret the counting question as counting some number of
functions? Say what the domain and codomain should be, and whether you
are counting all functions, injections, surjections, or something else.
110 1. Counting
Chapter 2
Sequences
Investigate!
There is a monastery in Hanoi, as the legend goes, with a great hall
containing three tall pillars. Resting on the first pillar are 64 giant
disks (or washers), all different sizes, stacked from largest to smallest.
The monks are charged with the following task: they must move the
entire stack of disks to the third pillar. However, due to the size of
the disks, the monks cannot move more than one at a time. Each disk
must be placed on one of the pillars before the next disk is moved.
And because the disks are so heavy and fragile, the monks may never
place a larger disk on top of a smaller disk. When the monks finally
complete their task, the world shall come to an end. Your task: figure
out how long before we need to start worrying about the end of the
world.
3. If the monks were able to move one disk every second without
ever stopping, how long before the world ends?
111
112 2. Sequences
count the number of moves required for a small number of disks. We can
then look for a pattern among the first few terms of the sequence. Hopefully
this will suggest a method for finding the nth term of the sequence, which
is the answer to our question. Of course we will also need to verify that our
suspected pattern is correct, and that this correct pattern really does give us
the nth term we think it does, but it is impossible to prove that your formula
is correct without having a formula to start with.
Sequences are also interesting mathematical objects to study in their own
right. Let’s see why.
2.1 Definitions
Investigate!
What comes next:
Example 2.1.1
Can you find the next term in the following sequences?
1. 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, . . .
2. 3, −3, 3, −3, 3, . . .
3. 1, 5, 2, 10, 3, 15, . . .
4. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, . . .
6. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, . . .
8. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, . . .
9. 3, 2, 1, 0, −1, . . .
10. 1, 1, 2, 6, . . .
Solution. No you cannot. You might guess that the next terms are:
1. 7
2. −3
3. 4
4. 64
5. 49
6. 34
7. 28
8. 17
9. −2
10. 24
In fact, those are the next terms of the sequences I had in mind
when I made up the example, but there is no way to be sure they are
correct.
Still, we will often do this. Given the first few terms of a sequence,
we can ask what the pattern in the sequence suggests the next terms
are.
114 2. Sequences
Closed formula
A closed formula for a sequence (a n )n∈N is a formula for a n using a fixed
finite number of operations on n. This is what you normally think of
as a formula in n, just like if you were defining a function in terms of n
(because that is exactly what you are doing).
Recursive definition
A recursive definition (sometimes called an inductive definition) for a
sequence (a n )n∈N consists of a recurrence relation: an equation relating
a term of the sequence to previous terms (terms with smaller index) and
an initial condition: a list of a few terms of the sequence (one less than
the number of terms in the recurrence relation).
Example 2.1.2
Here are a few closed formulas for sequences:
• an n2.
n(n + 1)
• an .
2
√ n √ −n
1+ 5 1+ 5
2 − 2
• an .
5
Note in each case, if you are given n, you can calculate a n directly:
just plug in n. For example, to find a 3 in the second sequence, just
3(3+1)
compute a 3 2 6.
Here are a few recursive definitions for sequences:
• a n 2a n−1 with a0 1.
to find a3 you would take 2a2 , but to find a 2 2a1 we would need
to know a1 2a0 . We do know this, so we could trace back through
these equations to find a1 54, a 2 108 and finally a3 216.
Investigate!
You have a large collection of 1 × 1 squares and 1 × 2 dominoes. You
want to arrange these to make a 1 × 15 strip. How many ways can you
do this?
a0 3
a1 4
a2 2 · 4 − 3 5
a3 2 · 5 − 4 6
a4 2 · 6 − 5 7
a5 2 · 7 − 6 8
a6 2 · 8 − 7 9.
Note that now we can guess a closed formula for the nth term of
the sequence: a n n + 3. To be sure this will always work, we could
plug in this formula into the recurrence relation:
That is not quite enough though, since there can be multiple closed
formulas that satisfy the same recurrence relation; we must also check
that our closed formula agrees on the initial terms of the sequence.
Since a0 0+3 3 and a1 1+3 4 are the correct initial conditions,
we can now conclude we have the correct closed formula.
Example 2.1.4
Use the formulas Tn and a n 2n to find closed formulas for
n(n+1)
2
the following sequences.
2. (c n ): 3, 5, 9, 17, 33, . . ..
2.1. Definitions 117
5. ( f n ): 0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, . . ..
Solution. Before you say this is impossible, what we are asking for
is simply to find a closed formula which agrees with all of the initial
terms of the sequences. Of course there is no way to read into the
mind of the person who wrote the numbers down, but we can at least
do this.
The first few terms of (Tn )n≥0 are 0, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, . . . (these are
called the triangular numbers). The first few terms of (a n )n≥0 are
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . .. Let’s try to find formulas for the given sequences:
1. (1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, . . .). Note that if subtract 1 from each term,
we get the sequence (Tn ). So we have b n Tn + 1. Therefore a
closed formula is b n 2 + 1. A quick check of the first few
n(n+1)
2. (3, 5, 9, 17, 33, . . .). Each term in this sequence is one more than
a power of 2, so we might guess the closed formula is c n
a n + 1 2n + 1. If we try this though, we get c0 20 + 1 2 and
c1 21 + 1 3. We are off because the indices are shifted. What
we really want is c n a n+1 + 1 giving c n 2n+1 + 1.
3. (0, 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, . . .). Notice that all these terms are even.
What happens if we factor out a 2? We get (Tn )! More precisely,
we find that d n /2 Tn , so this sequence has closed formula
d n n(n + 1).
4. (3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, . . .). These are all triangular numbers. How-
ever, we are starting with 3 as our initial term instead of as our
third term. So if we could plug in 2 instead of 0 into the for-
mula for Tn , we would be set. Therefore the closed formula is
(where n + 3 came from (n + 2) + 1). Thinking
(n+2)(n+3)
en 2
about sequences as functions, we are doing a horizontal shift by
2: e n Tn+2 which would cause the graph to shift 2 units to the
left.
118 2. Sequences
5. (0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, . . .). Try adding 1 to each term and we get
powers of 2. You might guess this because each term is a little
more than twice the previous term (the powers of 2 are exactly
twice the previous term). Closed formula: f n 2n − 1.
6. (3, 6, 12, 24, 48, . . .). These numbers are also doubling each time,
but are also all multiples of 3. Dividing each by 3 gives 1, 2, 4,
8, . . . . Aha. We get the closed formula g n 3 · 2n .
7. (6, 10, 18, 34, 66, . . .). To get from one term to the next, we almost
double each term. So maybe we can relate this back to 2n . Yes,
each term is 2 more than a power of 2. So we get h n 2n+2 + 2
(the n + 2 is because the first term is 2 more than 22 , not 20 ).
Alternatively, we could have related this sequence to the second
sequence in this example: starting with 3, 5, 9, 17, . . . we see
that this sequence is twice the terms from that sequence. That
sequence had closed formula c n 2n+1 + 1. Our sequence here
would be twice this, so h n 2(2n + 1), which is the same as we
got before.
8. (15, 33, 57, 87, 123, . . .). Try dividing each term by 3. That gives
the sequence 5, 11, 19, 29, 41, . . .. Now add 1: 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, . . .,
which is (d n ) in this example, except starting with 6 instead of
0. So let’s start with the formula d n n(n + 1). To start with the
6, we shift: (n + 2)(n + 3). But this is one too many, so subtract
1: (n + 2)(n + 3) − 1. That gives us our sequence, but divided by
3. So we want jn 3((n + 2)(n + 3) − 1).
Exercises
1. Find the closed formula for each of the following sequences by relating
them to a well known sequence. Assume the first term given is a 1 .
(a) 2, 5, 10, 17, 26, . . .
(b) 0, 2, 5, 9, 14, 20, . . .
(c) 8, 12, 17, 23, 30, . . .
(d) 1, 5, 23, 119, 719, . . .
2. For each sequence given below, find a closed formula for a n , the nth term of
the sequence (assume the first terms are a0 ) by relating it to another sequence
for which you already know the formula. In each case, briefly say how you
got your answers.
(a) 4, 5, 7, 11, 19, 35, . . .
(b) 0, 3, 8, 15, 24, 35, . . .
(c) 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, . . .
2.1. Definitions 119
(d) 0, 2, 7, 15, 26, 40, 57, . . . (Cryptic Hint: these might be called “house
numbers”)
4. Consider the three sequences below. For each, find a recursive definition.
How are these sequences related?
(a) 2, 4, 6, 10, 16, 26, 42, . . ..
(b) 5, 6, 11, 17, 28, 45, 73, . . ..
(c) 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, . . ..
Investigate!
For the patterns of dots below, draw the next pattern in the sequence.
Then give a recursive definition and a closed formula for the number
of dots in the nth pattern.
1.
n0 n1 n 2:
2.
3.
Arithmetic Sequences
a0 a a n a n−1 + d.
a0 a
a1 a0 + d a + d
a2 a1 + d a + d + d a + 2d
a3 a2 + d a + 2d + d a + 3d
..
.
We see that to find the nth term, we need to start with a and then add d a
bunch of times. In fact, add it n times. Thus a n a + dn.
Example 2.2.1
Find recursive definitions and closed formulas for the sequences be-
low. Assume the first term listed is a0 .
1. 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, . . ..
Solution. First we should check that these sequences really are arith-
metic by taking differences of successive terms. Doing so will reveal
the common difference d.
What about sequences like 2, 6, 18, 54, . . .? This is not arithmetic because
the difference between terms is not constant. However, the ratio between
successive terms is constant. We call such sequences geometric.
The recursive definition for the geometric sequence with initial term a
and common ratio r is a n a n · r; a0 a. To get the next term we multiply
the previous term by r. We can find the closed formula like we did for the
arithmetic progression. Write
a0 a
a1 a0 · r
a2 a1 · r a0 · r · r a0 · r 2
..
.
Geometric Sequences
Example 2.2.2
Find the recursive and closed formula for the sequences below. Again,
the first term listed is a0 .
2. 27, 9, 3, 1, 1/3, . . .
In the examples and formulas above, we assumed that the initial term
was a0 . If your sequence starts with a1 , you can easily find the term that
would have been a 0 and use that in the formula. For example, if we want a
formula for the sequence 2, 5, 8, . . . and insist that 2 a1 , then we can find
a0 −1 (since the sequence is arithmetic with common difference 3, we have
a0 + 3 a 1 ). Then the closed formula will be a n −1 + 3n.
Remark 2.2.3. If you look at other textbooks or online, you might find that
their closed formulas for arithmetic and geometric sequences differ from ours.
Specifically, you might find the formulas a n a + (n − 1)d (arithmetic) and
a n a · r n−1 (geometric). Which is correct? Both! In our case, we take a to be
a0 . If instead we had a1 as our initial term, we would get the (slightly more
complicated) formulas you find elsewhere.
Investigate!
Your neighborhood grocery store has a candy machine full of Skittles.
(a) How many Skittles will be left in the machine after 20 quar-
ters have been inserted?
(b) Will there ever be exactly zero Skittles left in the machine?
Explain.
T1 1 T2 3 T3 6 T4 10
11
31+2
61+2+3
10 1 + 2 + 3 + 4
.. ..
. .
Tn 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + n.
Consider how we could find the sum of the first 100 positive integers (that
is, T100 ). Instead of adding them in order, we regroup and add 1 + 100 101.
The next pair to combine is 2 + 99 101. Then 3 + 98 101. Keep going. This
gives 50 pairs which each add up to 101, so T100 101 · 50 5050.1
In general, using this same sort of regrouping, we find that Tn 2 .
n(n+1)
Incidentally, this is exactly the same as 2 , which makes sense if you think
n+1
and geometric sequences. Luckily there are methods we can use to compute
these sums quickly.
Example 2.2.4
Find the sum: 2 + 5 + 8 + 11 + 14 + · · · + 470.
Solution. The idea is to mimic how we found the formula for trian-
gular numbers. If we add the first and last terms, we get 472. The
second term and second-to-last term also add up to 472. To keep track
of everything, we might express this as follows. Call the sum S. Then,
S 74104/2 37052
This will work for any sum of arithmetic sequences. Call the sum S. Reverse
and add. This produces a single number added to itself many times. Find
the number of times. Multiply. Divide by 2. Done.
Example 2.2.5
Find a closed formula for 6 + 10 + 14 + · · · + (4n − 2).
Solution. Again, we have a sum of an arithmetic sequence. We need
to know how many terms are in the sequence. Clearly each term in
the sequence has the form 4k − 2 (as evidenced by the last term). For
which values of k though? To get 6, k 2. To get 4n − 2 take k n.
So to find the number of terms, we need to know how many integers
126 2. Sequences
S 6 + 10 +···+ 4n − 6 + 4n − 2
+ S 4n − 2 + 4n − 6 +···+ 10 + 6
2S 4n + 4 + 4n + 4 +···+ 4n + 4 + 4n + 4
(n − 2)(4n + 4)
2S (n − 2)(4n + 4) so S
2
Besides finding sums, we can use this technique to find closed formulas
for sequences we recognize as sequences of partial sums.
Example 2.2.6
Use partial sums to find a closed formula for (a n )n≥0 which starts
2, 3, 7, 14, 24, 37, . . . . . .
Solution. First, if you look at the differences between terms, you
get a sequence of differences: 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, . . ., which is an arithmetic
sequence. Written another way:
a0 2
a1 2 + 1
a2 2 + 1 + 4
a3 2 + 1 + 4 + 7
a n 2 + 1 + 4 + 7 + 10 + · · · + (1 + 3(n − 1))
an 2 + 1 + 4 +···+ 1 + 3(n − 1)
+ an 2 + 1 + 3(n − 1) + 1 + 3(n − 2) +···+ 1
2a n 4 + 2 + 3(n − 1) + 2 + 3(n − 1) +···+ 2 + 3(n − 1)
4 + (3n − 1)n
an .
2
4 4+2
Just to be sure, we check a0 2 2, a1 2 3, etc. We have the
correct closed formula.
Example 2.2.7
What is 3 + 6 + 12 + 24 + · · · + 12288?
Solution. Multiply each term by 2, the common ratio. You get
2S 6+12+24+· · ·+24576. Now subtract: 2S−S −3+24576 24573.
Since 2S − S S, we have our answer.
To better see what happened in the above example, try writing it this way:
S 3+ 6 + 12 + 24 + · · · + 12288
− 2S 6 + 12 + 24 + · · · + 12288 +24576
−S 3+ 0+0+0+···+0 −24576
Then divide both sides by −1 and we have the same result for S. The
idea is, by multiplying the sum by the common ratio, each term becomes the
next term. We shift over the sum to get the subtraction to mostly cancel out,
leaving just the first term and new last term.
Example 2.2.8
Find a closed formula for S(n) 2 + 10 + 50 + · · · + 2 · 5n .
Solution. The common ratio is 5. So we have
S 2 + 10 + 50 + · · · + 2 · 5n
− 5S 10 + 50 + · · · + 2 · 5n + 2 · 5n+1
−4S 2 − 2 · 5n+1
2 − 2 · 5n+1
Thus S
−4
128 2. Sequences
Even though this might seem like a new technique, you have probably
used it before.
Example 2.2.9
Express 0.464646 . . . as a fraction.
Solution. Let N 0.46464646 . . .. Consider 0.01N. We get:
N 0.4646464 . . .
− 0.01N 0.00464646 . . .
0.99N 0.46
Í Î
and notation
n
Õ
To simplify writing out sums, we will use notation like a k . This means
k1
add up the a k ’s where k changes from 1 to n.
Example 2.2.10
Use notation to rewrite the sums:
Í
1. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + · · · + 100
2. 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + · · · + 250
3. 6 + 10 + 14 + · · · + (4n − 2).
Solution.
100
Õ
1. k
k1
50
Õ
2. 2k
k0
n
Õ
3. (4k − 2)
k2
2.2. Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences 129
n
Ö
If we want to multiply the a k instead, we would write a k . For example,
k1
n
Ö
k n!.
k1
Exercises
1. Consider the sequence 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, . . . with a1 5
(a) Give a recursive definition for the sequence.
(b) Give a closed formula for the nth term of the sequence.
(c) Is 2013 a term in the sequence? Explain.
(d) How many terms does the sequence 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, . . . , 533 have?
(e) Find the sum: 5 + 9 + 13 + 17 + 21 + · · · + 533. Show your work.
(f) Use what you found above to find b n , the n th term of 1, 6, 15, 28, 45, . . .,
where b 0 1
5. Find 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + · · · + 521.
6. Find 5 + 15 + 45 + · · · + 5 · 320 .
2 4 230
7. Find 1 − 3 + 9 −···+ 330
.
8. Find x and y such that 27, x, y, 1 is part of an arithmetic sequence. Then
find x and y so that the sequence is part of a geometric sequence. (Warning:
x and y might not be integers.)
130 2. Sequences
9. Starting with any rectangle, we can create a new, larger rectangle by at-
taching a square to the longer side. For example, if we start with a 2 × 5
rectangle, we would glue on a 5 × 5 square, forming a 5 × 7 rectangle:
5 5
2 5 7
10. Consider the sequence 2, 7, 15, 26, 40, 57, . . . (with a0 2). By looking at
the differences between terms, express the sequence as a sequence of partial
sums. Then find a closed formula for the sequence by computing the nth
partial sum.
11. If you have enough toothpicks, you can make a large triangular grid.
Below, are the triangular grids of size 1 and of size 2. The size 1 grid requires
3 toothpicks, the size 2 grid requires 9 toothpicks.
(a) 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + · · · + 2n.
(b) 1 + 5 + 9 + 13 + · · · + 425.
1 1 1 1
(c) 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +···+ 50 .
(d) 2 · 4 · 6 · · · · · 2n.
(e) ( 12 )( 32 )( 34 ) · · · ( 100
101 ).
13. Expand the following sums and products. That is, write them out the
long way.
100
Õ
(a) (3 + 4k).
k1
Õn
(b) 2k .
k0
50
Õ 1
(c) .
(k 2 − 1)
k2
100
Ö k2
(d) .
(k 2 − 1)
k2
n
Ö
(e) (2 + 3k).
k0
Investigate!
A standard 8 × 8 chessboard contains 64 squares. Actually, this is just
the number of unit squares. How many squares of all sizes are there
on a chessboard? Start with smaller boards: 1 × 1, 2 × 2, 3 × 3, etc. Find
a formula for the total number of squares in an n × n board.
So far we have seen methods for finding the closed formulas for arithmetic
and geometric sequences. Since we know how to compute the sum of the first
n terms of arithmetic and geometric sequences, we can compute the closed
formulas for sequences which have an arithmetic (or geometric) sequence of
differences between terms. But what if we consider a sequence which is the
sum of the first n terms of a sequence which is itself the sum of an arithmetic
sequence?
Before we get too carried away, let’s consider an example: How many
squares (of all sizes) are there on a chessboard? A chessboard consists of 64
squares, but we also want to consider squares of longer side length. Even
though we are only considering an 8 × 8 board, there is already a lot to count.
So instead, let us build a sequence: the first term will be the number of
squares on a 1 × 1 board, the second term will be the number of squares on a
2 × 2 board, and so on. After a little thought, we arrive at the sequence
This sequence is not arithmetic (or geometric for that matter), but perhaps
it’s sequence of differences is. For differences we get
4, 9, 16, 25, . . .
Example 2.3.1
Which of the following sequences are ∆k -constant for some value of
k?
Solution.
Finite Differences
The closed formula for a sequence will be a degree k polynomial if and
only if the sequence is ∆k -constant (i.e., the kth sequence of differences
is constant).
Example 2.3.2
Find a formula for the sequence 3, 7, 14, 24, . . .. Assume a1 3.
Solution. First, check to see if the formula has constant differences
at some level. The sequence of first differences is 4, 7, 10, . . . which
is arithmetic, so the sequence of second differences is constant. The
sequence is ∆2 -constant, so the formula for a n will be a degree 2
polynomial. That is, we know that for some constants a, b, and c,
a n an 2 + bn + c.
a0 2 a · 02 + b · 0 + c,
a1 3 a + b + 2
a 2 7 a4 + b2 + 2.
At this point we have two (linear) equations and two unknowns, so
we can solve the system for a and b (using substitution or elimination
or even matrices). We find a 32 and b −1 3 2 1
2 , so a n 2 n − 2 n + 2.
2.3. Polynomial Fitting 135
Example 2.3.3
Find a closed formula for the number of squares on an n × n chess-
board.
Solution. We have seen that the sequence 1, 5, 14, 30, 55, . . . is ∆3 -
constant, so we are looking for a degree 3 polynomial. That is,
a n an 3 + bn 2 + cn + d.
1 a + b + c
5 8a + 4b + 2c
14 27a + 9b + 3c.
Example 2.3.4
Determine whether the following sequences can be described by a
polynomial, and if so, of what degree.
1. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . .
3. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, . . .
Solution.
Exercises
1. Use polynomial fitting to find the formula for the nth term of the sequences
(a n )n≥0 below.
(a) 2, 5, 11, 21, 36,. . .
(b) 0, 2, 6, 12, 20,. . .
(c) 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 26 . . .
(d) 3, 6, 12, 22, 37, . . . . After finding a formula here, compare to part (a).
3. Consider the sequence 1, 3, 7, 13, 21, . . .. Explain how you know the closed
formula for the sequence will be quadratic. Then “guess” the correct formula
by comparing this sequence to the squares 1, 4, 9, 16, . . . (do not use polyno-
mial fitting).
4. Use a similar technique as in the previous exercise to find a closed formula
for the sequence 2, 11, 34, 77, 146, 247, . . ..
5. In their down time, ghost pirates enjoy stacking cannonballs in triangular
based pyramids (aka, tetrahedrons), like those pictured here:
2.3. Polynomial Fitting 137
Note, in the picture on the right, there are some cannonballs (actually just
one) you cannot see. The next picture would have 4 cannonballs you cannot
see. The stacks are not hollow.
The pirates wonder how many cannonballs would be required to build a
pyramid 15 layers high (thus breaking the world cannonball stacking record).
Can you help?
(a) Let P(n) denote the number of cannonballs needed to create a pyramid
n layers high. So P(1) 1, P(2) 4, and so on. Calculate P(3), P(4) and
P(5).
(b) Use polynomial fitting to find a closed formula for P(n). Show your
work.
(c) Answer the pirate’s question: how many cannonballs do they need to
make a pyramid 15 layers high?
Investigate!
Consider the recurrence relation
a n 5a n−1 − 6a n−2 .
ing a solution might be tricky, but checking that the solution is correct is
easy.
Example 2.4.2
Check that a n 2n + 1 is a solution to the recurrence relation a n
2a n−1 − 1 with a1 3.
Solution. First, it is easy to check the initial condition: a1 should
be 21 + 1 according to our closed formula. Indeed, 21 + 1 3, which
is what we want. To check that our proposed solution satisfies the
recurrence relation, try plugging it in.
2a n−1 − 1 2(2n−1 + 1) − 1
2n + 2 − 1
2n + 1
an .
Example 2.4.3
Solve the recurrence relation a n a n−1 + n with initial term a 0 4.
Solution. To get a feel for the recurrence relation, write out the first
few terms of the sequence: 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 19, . . .. Look at the difference
between terms. a1 − a0 1 and a2 − a1 2 and so on. The key thing
here is that the difference between terms is n. We can write this
explicitly: a n − a n−1 n. Of course, we could have arrived at this
conclusion directly from the recurrence relation by subtracting a n−1
from both sides.
140 2. Sequences
Now use this equation over and over again, changing n each time:
a1 − a0 1
a2 − a1 2
a3 − a2 3
.. ..
. .
a n − a n−1 n.
This sum telescopes. We are left with only the −a0 from the first
equation and the a n from the last equation. Putting this all together
we have −a 0 + a n or a n + a0 . But we know that
n(n+1) n(n+1)
2 2
a0 4. So the solution to the recurrence relation, subject to the initial
condition is
n(n + 1)
an + 4.
2
(Now that we know that, we should notice that the sequence is
the result of adding 4 to each of the triangular numbers.)
The above example shows a way to solve recurrence relations of the form
a n a n−1 + f (n) where nk1 f (k) has a known closed formula. If you rewrite
Í
the recurrence relation as a n − a n−1 f (n), and then add up all the different
equations with n ranging between 1 and n, the left-hand side will always give
you a n − a0 . The right-hand side will be nk1 f (k), which is why we need to
Í
know the closed formula for that sum.
However, telescoping will not help us with a recursion such as a n
3a n−1 + 2 since the left-hand side will not telescope. You will have −3a n−1 ’s
but only one a n−1 . However, we can still be clever if we use iteration.
We have already seen an example of iteration when we found the closed
formula for arithmetic and geometric sequences. The idea is, we iterate the
process of finding the next term, starting with the known initial condition,
up until we have a n . Then we simplify. In the arithmetic sequence example,
we simplified by multiplying d by the number of times we add it to a when
we get to a n , to get from a n a + d + d + d + · · · + d to a n a + dn.
To see how this works, let’s go through the same example we used for
telescoping, but this time use iteration.
2.4. Solving Recurrence Relations 141
Example 2.4.4
Use iteration to solve the recurrence relation a n a n−1 + n with a0 4.
Solution. Again, start by writing down the recurrence relation when
n 1. This time, don’t subtract the a n−1 terms to the other side:
a1 a0 + 1.
a2 (a0 + 1) + 2.
a3 ((a0 + 1) + 2) + 3.
a n ((((a0 + 1) + 2) + 3) + · · · + n − 1) + n.
n(n + 1)
an 4 + .
2
Of course in this case we still needed to know formula for the sum of
1, . . . , n. Let’s try iteration with a sequence for which telescoping doesn’t
work.
Example 2.4.5
Solve the recurrence relation a n 3a n−1 + 2 subject to a 0 1.
Solution. Again, we iterate the recurrence relation, building up to
the index n.
a1 3a 0 + 2
a2 3(a1 ) + 2 3(3a0 + 2) + 2
a3 3[a 2 ] + 2 3[3(3a0 + 2) + 2] + 2
.. .. ..
. . .
a n 3(a n−1 ) + 2 3(3(3(3 · · · (3a0 + 2) + 2) + 2) · · · + 2) + 2.
we go.
a1 3a0 + 2
a2 3(a1 ) + 2 3(3a0 + 2) + 2 32 a0 + 2 · 3 + 2
a3 3[a2 ] + 2 3[32 a0 + 2 · 3 + 2] + 2 33 a0 + 2 · 32 + 2 · 3 + 2
.. .. ..
. . .
a n 3(a n−1 ) + 2 3(3n−1 a0 + 2 · 3n−2 + · · · + 2) + 2
3n a0 + 2 · 3n−1 + 2 · 3n−2 + · · · + 2 · 3 + 2.
Putting this together with the first 3 term gives our closed formula:
n
a n 2 · 3n − 1.
Iteration can be messy, but when the recurrence relation only refers to one
previous term (and maybe some function of n) it can work well. However,
trying to iterate a recurrence relation such as a n 2a n−1 + 3a n−2 will be way
too complicated. We would need to keep track of two sets of previous terms,
each of which were expressed by two previous terms, and so on. The length
of the formula would grow exponentially (double each time, in fact). Luckily
there happens to be a method for solving recurrence relations which works
very well on relations like this.
r n − r n−1 − 6r n−2 0.
x 2 + αx + β 0.
Example 2.4.6
Solve the recurrence relation a n 7a n−1 − 10a n−2 with a 0 2 and
a1 3.
Solution. Rewrite the recurrence relation a n − 7a n−1 + 10a n−2 0.
Now form the characteristic equation:
x 2 − 7x + 10 0
a n a2n + b5n .
144 2. Sequences
2 a20 + b50 a + b
3 a21 + b51 2a + 5b
Notice the extra n in bnr n . This allows us to solve for the constants a and
b from the initial conditions.
2.4. Solving Recurrence Relations 145
Example 2.4.7
Solve the recurrence relation a n 6a n−1 −9a n−2 with initial conditions
a0 1 and a1 4.
Solution. The characteristic polynomial is x 2 − 6x + 9. We solve the
characteristic equation
x 2 − 6x + 9 0
by factoring:
(x − 3)2 0
so x 3 is the only characteristic root. Therefore we know that the
solution to the recurrence relation has the form
a n a3n + bn3n
a0 1 a30 + b · 0 · 30 a
a1 4 a · 3 + b · 1 · 3 3a + 3b.
Exercises
1. Find the next two terms in (a n )n≥0 beginning 3, 5, 11, 21, 43, 85 . . . .. Then
give a recursive definition for the sequence. Finally, use the characteristic root
technique to find a closed formula for the sequence.
2. Solve the recurrence relation a n a n−1 + 2n with a0 5.
3. Show that 4n is a solution to the recurrence relation a n 3a n−1 + 4a n−2 .
146 2. Sequences
4. Find the solution to the recurrence relation a n 3a n−1 + 4a n−2 with initial
terms a0 2 and a 1 3.
5. Find the solution to the recurrence relation a n 3a n−1 + 4a n−2 with initial
terms a0 5 and a 1 8.
6. Solve the recurrence relation a n 2a n−1 − a n−2 .
(a) What is the solution if the initial terms are a0 1 and a 1 2?
(b) What do the initial terms need to be in order for a 9 30?
(c) For which x are there initial terms which make a 9 x?
7. Solve the recurrence relation a n 3a n−1 + 10a n−2 with initial terms a0 4
and a 1 1.
8. Suppose that r n and q n are both solutions to a recurrence relation of the
form a n αa n−1 + βa n−2 . Prove that c · r n + d · q n is also a solution to the
recurrence relation, for any constants c, d.
9. Think back to the magical candy machine at your neighborhood grocery
store. Suppose that the first time a quarter is put into the machine 1 Skittle
comes out. The second time, 4 Skittles, the third time 16 Skittles, the fourth
time 64 Skittles, etc.
(a) Find both a recursive and closed formula for how many Skittles the nth
customer gets.
(b) Check your solution for the closed formula by solving the recurrence
relation using the Characteristic Root technique.
10. You have access to 1×1 tiles which come in 2 different colors and 1×2 tiles
which come in 3 different colors. We want to figure out how many different
1 × n path designs we can make out of these tiles.
(a) Find a recursive definition for the sequence a n of paths of length n.
(b) Solve the recurrence relation using the Characteristic Root technique.
11. Let a n be the number of 1× n tile designs you can make using 1×1 squares
available in 4 colors and 1 × 2 dominoes available in 5 colors.
(a) First, find a recurrence relation to describe the problem. Explain why
the recurrence relation is correct (in the context of the problem).
(b) Write out the first 6 terms of the sequence a1 , a2 , . . ..
(c) Solve the recurrence relation. That is, find a closed formula for a n .
2.5 Induction
Mathematical induction is a proof technique, not unlike direct proof or proof
by contradiction or combinatorial proof.3 In other words, induction is a style
of argument we use to convince ourselves and others that a mathematical
statement is always true. Many mathematical statements can be proved by
simply explaining what they mean. Others are very difficult to prove—in
fact, there are relatively simple mathematical statements which nobody yet
knows how to prove. To facilitate the discovery of proofs, it is important to
be familiar with some standard styles of arguments. Induction is one such
style. Let’s start with an example:
Stamps
Investigate!
You need to mail a package, but don’t yet know how much postage
you will need. You have a large supply of 8-cent stamps and 5-cent
stamps. Which amounts of postage can you make exactly using these
stamps? Which amounts are impossible to make?
the sequence will consist of T’s (for true) and F’s (for false). In our particular
case the sequence starts
F, F, F, F, T, F, F, T, F, F, T, F, F, T, . . .
3You might or might not be familiar with these yet. We will consider these in Chapter 3.
148 2. Sequences
because P(1), P(2), P(3), P(4) are all false (you cannot make 1, 2, 3, or 4 cents
of postage) but P(5) is true (use one 5-cent stamp), and so on.
Let’s think a bit about how we could find the value of P(n) for some
specific n (the “value” will be either T or F). How did we find the value
of the nth term of a sequence of numbers? How did we find a n ? There
were two ways we could do this: either there was a closed formula for a n ,
so we could plug in n into the formula and get our output value, or we had
a recursive definition for the sequence, so we could use the previous terms
of the sequence to compute the nth term. When dealing with sequences of
statements, we could use either of these techniques as well. Maybe there is
a way to use n itself to determine whether we can make n cents of postage.
That would be something like a closed formula. Or instead we could use the
previous terms in the sequence (of statements) to determine whether we can
make n cents of postage. That is, if we know the value of P(n − 1), can we
get from that to the value of P(n)? That would be something like a recursive
definition for the sequence. Remember, finding recursive definitions for
sequences was often easier than finding closed formulas. The same is true
here.
Suppose I told you that P(43) was true (it is). Can you determine from
this fact the value of P(44) (whether it true or false)? Yes you can. Even if
we don’t know how exactly we made 43 cents out of the 5-cent and 8-cent
stamps, we do know that there was some way to do it. What if that way used
at least three 5-cent stamps (making 15 cents)? We could replace those three
5-cent stamps with two 8-cent stamps (making 16 cents). The total postage
has gone up by 1, so we have a way to make 44 cents, so P(44) is true. Of
course, we assumed that we had at least three 5-cent stamps. What if we
didn’t? Then we must have at least three 8-cent stamps (making 24 cents).
If we replace those three 8-cent stamps with five 5-cent stamps (making 25
cents) then again we have bumped up our total by 1 cent so we can make 44
cents, so P(44) is true.
Notice that we have not said how to make 44 cents, just that we can, on
the basis that we can make 43 cents. How do we know we can make 43 cents?
Perhaps because we know we can make 42 cents, which we know we can do
because we know we can make 41 cents, and so on. It’s a recursion! As with
a recursive definition of a numerical sequence, we must specify our initial
value. In this case, the initial value is “P(1) is false.” That’s not good, since
our recurrence relation just says that P(k + 1) is true if P(k) is also true. We
need to start the process with a true P(k). So instead, we might want to use
“P(31) is true” as the initial condition.
Putting this all together we arrive at the following fact: it is possible to
(exactly) make any amount of postage greater than 27 cents using just 5-cent
and 8-cent stamps.4 In other words, P(k) is true for any k ≥ 28. To prove this,
we could do the following:
4This is not claiming that there are no amounts less than 27 cents which can also be made.
2.5. Induction 149
2. Prove that if P(k) is true, then P(k + 1) is true (for any k ≥ 28).
Suppose we have done this. Then we know that the 28th term of the
sequence above is a T (using step 1, the initial condition or base case), and
that every term after the 28th is T also (using step 2, the recursive part or
inductive case). Here is what the proof would actually look like.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement “it is possible to make exactly n cents of
postage using 5-cent and 8-cent stamps.” We will show P(n) is true for all
n ≥ 28.
First, we show that P(28) is true: 28 4 · 5 + 1 · 8, so we can make 28 cents
using four 5-cent stamps and one 8-cent stamp.
Now suppose P(k) is true for some arbitrary k ≥ 28. Then it is possible
to make k cents using 5-cent and 8-cent stamps. Note that since k ≥ 28, it
cannot be that we use less than three 5-cent stamps and less than three 8-cent
stamps: using two of each would give only 26 cents. Now if we have made
k cents using at least three 5-cent stamps, replace three 5-cent stamps by two
8-cent stamps. This replaces 15 cents of postage with 16 cents, moving from
a total of k cents to k + 1 cents. Thus P(k + 1) is true. On the other hand, if
we have made k cents using at least three 8-cent stamps, then we can replace
three 8-cent stamps with five 5-cent stamps, moving from 24 cents to 25 cents,
giving a total of k + 1 cents of postage. So in this case as well P(k + 1) is true.
Therefore, by the principle of mathematical induction, P(n) is true for all
n ≥ 28. qed
Formalizing Proofs
What we did in the stamp example above works for many types of problems.
Proof by induction is useful when trying to prove statements about all natural
numbers, or all natural numbers greater than some fixed first case (like 28 in
the example above), and in some other situations too. In particular, induction
should be used when there is some way to go from one case to the next –
when you can see how to always “do one more.”
This is a big idea. Thinking about a problem inductively can give new in-
sight into the problem. For example, to really understand the stamp problem,
you should think about how any amount of postage (greater than 28 cents)
can be made (this is non-inductive reasoning) and also how the ways in which
postage can be made changes as the amount increases (inductive reasoning).
When you are asked to provide a proof by induction, you are being asked
to think about the problem dynamically; how does increasing n change the
problem?
But there is another side to proofs by induction as well. In mathematics,
it is not enough to understand a problem, you must also be able to commu-
nicate the problem to others. Like any discipline, mathematics has standard
150 2. Sequences
1. Base case: Prove that P(0) is true. You do this directly. This is
often easy.
2. Inductive case: Prove that P(k) → P(k + 1) for all k ≥ 0. That is,
prove that for any k ≥ 0 if P(k) is true, then P(k + 1) is true as well.
This is the proof of an if . . . then . . . statement, so you can assume
P(k) is true (P(k) is called the inductive hypothesis). You must then
explain why P(k + 1) is also true, given that assumption.
Assuming you are successful on both parts above, you can conclude,
“Therefore by the principle of mathematical induction, the statement
P(n) is true for all n ≥ 0.”
Sometimes the statement P(n) will only be true for values of n ≥ 4, for
example, or some other value. In such cases, replace all the 0’s above with 4’s
(or the other value).
The other advantage of formalizing inductive proofs is it allows us to verify
that the logic behind this style of argument is valid. Why does induction
work? Think of a row of dominoes set up standing on their edges. We want
to argue that in a minute, all the dominoes will have fallen down. For this
to happen, you will need to push the first domino. That is the base case. It
will also have to be that the dominoes are close enough together that when
any particular domino falls, it will cause the next domino to fall. That is the
inductive case. If both of these conditions are met, you push the first domino
over and each domino will cause the next to fall, then all the dominoes will
fall.
Induction is powerful! Think how much easier it is to knock over domi-
noes when you don’t have to push over each domino yourself. You just start
the chain reaction, and the rely on the relative nearness of the dominoes to
take care of the rest.
Think about our study of sequences. It is easier to find recursive defini-
tions for sequences than closed formulas. Going from one case to the next is
easier than going directly to a particular case. That is what is so great about
2.5. Induction 151
induction. Instead of going directly to the (arbitrary) case for n, we just need
to say how to get from one case to the next.
When you are asked to prove a statement by mathematical induction, you
should first think about why the statement is true, using inductive reasoning.
Explain why induction is the right thing to do, and roughly why the inductive
case will work. Then, sit down and write out a careful, formal proof using
the structure above.
Examples
Here are some examples of proof by mathematical induction.
Example 2.5.1
Prove for each natural number n ≥ 1 that 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + n 2 .
n(n+1)
will prove that P(k + 1) is true as well. That is, we must prove that
1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + k + (k + 1) . To prove this equation, start by
(k+1)(k+2)
2
adding k + 1 to both sides of the inductive hypothesis:
k(k + 1)
1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + k + (k + 1) + (k + 1).
2
Now, simplifying the right side we get:
k(k + 1) + 2(k + 1)
2
(k + 2)(k + 1)
.
2
Thus P(k +1) is true, so by the principle of mathematical induction
P(n) is true for all natural numbers n ≥ 1. qed
Note that in the part of the proof in which we proved P(k + 1) from P(k),
we used the equation P(k). This was the inductive hypothesis. Seeing how
to use the inductive hypotheses is usually straight forward when proving a
fact about a sum like this. In other proofs, it can be less obvious where it fits
in.
Example 2.5.2
Prove that for all n ∈ N, 6n − 1 is a multiple of 5.
Solution. Again, start by understanding the dynamics of the prob-
lem. What does increasing n do? Let’s try with a few examples. If
n 1, then yes, 61 − 1 5 is a multiple of 5. What does incrementing
n to 2 look like? We get 62 − 1 35, which again is a multiple of 5.
Next, n 3: but instead of just finding 63 − 1, what did the increase in
n do? We will still subtract 1, but now we are multiplying by another
6 first. Viewed another way, we are multiplying a number which is
one more than a multiple of 5 by 6 (because 62 − 1 is a multiple of 5, so
62 is one more than a multiple of 5). What do numbers which are one
more than a multiple of 5 look like? They must have last digit 1 or 6.
What happens when you multiply such a number by 6? Depends on
the number, but in any case, the last digit of the new number must be
a 6. And then if you subtract 1, you get last digit 5, so a multiple of 5.
The point is, every time we multiply by just one more six, we still
get a number with last digit 6, so subtracting 1 gives us a multiple of
5. Now the formal proof:
6k+1 − 1 30 j + 5.
2.5. Induction 153
We had to be a little bit clever (i.e., use some algebra) to locate the 6k − 1
inside of 6k+1 − 1 before we could apply the inductive hypothesis. This is
what can make inductive proofs challenging.
In the two examples above, we started with n 1 or n 0. We can start
later if we need to.
Example 2.5.3
Prove that n 2 < 2n for all integers n ≥ 5.
Solution. First, the idea of the argument. What happens when we
increase n by 1? On the left-hand side, we increase the base of the
square and go to the next square number. On the right-hand side,
we increase the power of 2. This means we double the number. So
the question is, how does doubling a number relate to increasing to
the next square? Think about what the difference of two consecutive
squares looks like. We have (n + 1)2 − n 2 . This factors:
(n + 1)2 − n 2 (n + 1 − n)(n + 1 + n) 2n + 1.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement n 2 < 2n . We will prove P(n) is true
for all integers n ≥ 5.
Base case: P(5) is the statement 52 < 25 . Since 52 25 and 25 32,
we see that P(5) is indeed true.
Inductive case: Let k ≥ 5 be an arbitrary integer. Assume, for
induction, that P(k) is true. That is, assume k 2 < 2k . We will prove
that P(k + 1) is true, i.e., (k + 1)2 < 2k+1 . To prove such an inequality,
start with the left-hand side and work towards the right-hand side:
(k + 1)2 k 2 + 2k + 1
< 2k + 2k + 1 by the inductive hypothesis.
< 2 +2
k k
since 2k + 1 < 2k for k ≥ 5.
2k+1 .
154 2. Sequences
The previous example might remind you of the racetrack principle from
calculus, which says that if f (a) < g(a), and f 0(x) < g 0(x) for x > a, then
f (x) < g(x) for x > a. Same idea: the larger function is increasing at a
faster rate than the smaller function, so the larger function will stay larger.
In discrete math, we don’t have derivatives, so we look at differences. Thus
induction is the way to go.
Warning:
Strong Induction
Investigate!
Start with a square piece of paper. You want to cut this square into
smaller squares, leaving no waste (every piece of paper you end up
with must be a square). Obviously it is possible to cut the square into
4 squares. You can also cut it into 9 squares. It turns out you can cut
the square into 7 squares (although not all the same size). What other
numbers of squares could you end up with?
At first, this question might seem impossible. Perhaps I meant to ask for
the smallest number of breaks needed? Let’s investigate.
Start with some small cases. If n 2, you must have a 1 × 2 rectangle,
which can be reduced to single pieces in one break. With n 3, we must
have a 1 × 3 bar, which requires two breaks: the first break creates a single
square and a 1 × 2 bar, which we know takes one (more) break.
What about n 4? Now we could have a 2 × 2 bar, or a 1 × 4 bar. In
the first case, break the bar into two 2 × 2 bars, each which require one more
break (that’s a total of three breaks required). If we started with a 1 × 4 bar,
we have choices for our first break. We could break the bar in half, creating
two 1 × 2 bars, or we could break off a single square, leaving a 1 × 3 bar. But
either way, we still need two more breaks, giving a total of three.
It is starting to look like no matter how we break the bar (and no matter
how the n squares are arranged into a rectangle), we will always have the
same number of breaks required. It also looks like that number is one less
than n:
It makes sense to prove this by induction because after breaking the bar
once, you are left with smaller chocolate bars. Reducing to smaller cases is
what induction is all about. We can inductively assume we already know
how to deal with these smaller bars. The problem is, if we are trying to prove
the inductive case about a (k + 1)-square bar, we don’t know that after the first
break the remaining bar will have k squares. So we really need to assume
that our conjecture is true for all cases less than k + 1.
Is it valid to make this stronger assumption? Remember, in induction we
are attempting to prove that P(n) is true for all n. What if that were not the
case? Then there would be some first n0 for which P(n0 ) was false. Since n0
is the first counterexample, we know that P(n) is true for all n < n 0 . Now
we proceed to prove that P(n0 ) is actually true, based on the assumption that
P(n) is true for all smaller n.
This is quite an advantage: we now have a stronger inductive hypothesis.
We can assume that P(1), P(2), P(3), . . . P(k) is true, just to show that P(k + 1)
is true. Previously, we just assumed P(k) for this purpose.
It is slightly easier if we change our variables for strong induction. Here
is what the formal proof would look like:
156 2. Sequences
Again, start by saying what you want to prove: “Let P(n) be the state-
ment. . . ” Then establish two facts:
2. Inductive case: Assume P(k) is true for all k < n. Prove that P(n)
is true.
Conclude, “therefore, by strong induction, P(n) is true for all n > 0.”
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement, “it takes n − 1 breaks to reduce a n-square
chocolate bar to single squares.”
Base case: Consider P(2). The squares must be arranged into a 1 × 2
rectangle, and we require 2 − 1 1 breaks to reduce this to single squares.
Inductive case: Fix an arbitrary n ≥ 2 and assume P(k) is true for all
k < n. Consider a n-square rectangular chocolate bar. Break the bar once
along any row or column. This results in two chocolate bars, say of sizes a
and b. That is, we have an a-square rectangular chocolate bar, a b-square
rectangular chocolate bar, and a + b n.
We also know that a < n and b < n, so by our inductive hypothesis,
P(a) and P(b) are true. To reduce the a-sqaure bar to single squares takes
a − 1 breaks; to reduce the b-square bar to single squares takes b − 1 breaks.
Doing this results in our original bar being reduced to single squares. All
together it took the initial break, plus the a − 1 and b − 1 breaks, for a total of
1 + a − 1 + b − 1 a + b − 1 n − 1 breaks. Thus P(n) is true.
Therefore, by strong induction, P(n) is true for all n ≥ 2. qed
Example 2.5.5
Prove that any natural number greater than 1 is either prime or can
be written as the product of primes.
Solution. First, the idea: if we take some number n, maybe it is
prime. If so, we are done. If not, then it is composite, so it is the
product of two smaller numbers. Each of these factors is smaller than
5Technically, strong induction does not require you to prove a separate base case. This is
because when proving the inductive case, you must show that P(0) is true, assuming P(k) is true
for all k < 0. But this is not any help so you end up proving P(0) anyway. To be on the safe side,
we will always include the base case separately.
2.5. Induction 157
n (but at least 2), so we can repeat the argument with these numbers.
We have reduced to a smaller case.
Now the formal proof:
Exercises
n
Õ
1. Use induction to prove for all n ∈ N that 2k 2n+1 − 1.
k0
n(n + 1)(2n + 1)
12 + 22 + 32 + ... + n 2
6
10. What is wrong with the following “proof” of the “fact” that n + 3 n + 7
for all values of n (besides of course that the thing it is claiming to prove is
false)?
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement that n + 3 n + 7. We will prove that P(n) is
true for all n ∈ N. Assume, for induction that P(k) is true. That is, k +3 k +7.
We must show that P(k + 1) is true. Now since k + 3 k + 7, add 1 to both
sides. This gives k + 3 + 1 k + 7 + 1. Regrouping (k + 1) + 3 (k + 1) + 7.
But this is simply P(k + 1). Thus by the principle of mathematical induction
P(n) is true for all n ∈ N. qed
2.5. Induction 159
11. The proof in the previous problem does not work. But if we modify the
“fact,” we can get a working proof. Prove that n + 3 < n + 7 for all values of
n ∈ N. You can do this proof with algebra (without induction), but the goal
of this exercise is to write out a valid induction proof.
12. Find the flaw in the following “proof” of the “fact” that n < 100 for every
n ∈ N.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement n < 100. We will prove P(n) is true for all
n ∈ N. First we establish the base case: when n 0, P(n) is true, because
0 < 100. Now for the inductive step, assume P(k) is true. That is, k < 100.
Now if k < 100, then k is some number, like 80. Of course 80 + 1 81 which
is still less than 100. So k + 1 < 100 as well. But this is what P(k + 1) claims, so
we have shown that P(k) → P(k + 1). Thus by the principle of mathematical
induction, P(n) is true for all n ∈ N. qed
13. While the above proof does not work (it better not since the statement it is
trying to prove is false!) we can prove something similar. Prove that there is a
strictly increasing sequence a 1 , a 2 , a3 , . . . of numbers (not necessarily integers)
such that a n < 100 for all n ∈ N. (By strictly increasing we mean a n < a n+1
for all n. So each term must be larger than the last.)
14. What is wrong with the following “proof” of the “fact” that for all n ∈ N,
the number n 2 + n is odd?
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement “n 2 + n is odd.” We will prove that P(n)
is true for all n ∈ N. Suppose for induction that P(k) is true, that is, that
k 2 + k is odd. Now consider the statement P(k + 1). Now (k + 1)2 + (k + 1)
k 2 + 2k + 1 + k + 1 k 2 + k + 2k + 2. By the inductive hypothesis, k 2 + k is odd,
and of course 2k + 2 is even. An odd plus an even is always odd, so therefore
(k + 1)2 + (k + 1) is odd. Therefore by the principle of mathematical induction,
P(n) is true for all n ∈ N. qed
15. Now give a valid proof (by induction, even though you might be able to
do so without using induction) of the statement, “for all n ∈ N, the number
n 2 + n is even.”
16. Prove that there is a sequence of positive real numbers a 0 , a1 , a2 , . . . such
that the partial sum a0 + a1 + a2 + · · · + a n is strictly less than 2 for all n ∈ N.
Hint: think about how you could define what a k+1 is to make the induction
argument work.
17. Prove that every positive integer is either a power of 2, or can be written
as the sum of distinct powers of 2.
19. Use induction to prove that if n people all shake hands with each other,
that the total number of handshakes is 2 .
n(n−1)
160 2. Sequences
1
20. Suppose that a particular real number x has the property that x + x is an
integer. Prove that x n + x1n is an integer for all natural numbers n.
n
Õ n
21. Use induction to prove that 2n . That is, the sum of the nth row
k
k0
of Pascal’s Triangle is 2n .
22. Use induction to prove 40 + 51 + 6
+ ··· + 4+n
5+n
n . (This is an
2 n
example of the hockey stick theorem.)
23. Use the product rule for logarithms (log(ab) log(a) + log(b)) to prove,
by induction on n, that log(a n ) n log(a), for all natural numbers n ≥ 2.
24. Let f1 , f2 , . . . , f n be differentiable functions. Prove, using induction, that
( f1 + f2 + · · · + f n )0 f10 + f20 + · · · + f n0
You may assume the product rule for two functions is true.
Hint. For the inductive step, we know by the product rule for two functions
that
( f1 f2 f3 · · · f k f k+1 )0 ( f1 f2 f3 · · · f k )0 f k+1 + ( f1 f2 f3 · · · f k ) f k+1
0
Then use the inductive hypothesis on the first summand, and distribute.
2.6. Chapter Summary 161
Investigate!
Each day your supply of magic chocolate covered espresso beans dou-
bles (each one splits in half), but then you eat 5 of them. You have 10
at the start of day 0.
1. Write out the first few terms of the sequence. Then give a recur-
sive definition for the sequence and explain how you know it is
correct.
2. Prove, using induction, that the last digit of the number of beans
you have on the nth day is always a 5 for all n ≥ 1.
3. Find a closed formula for the nth term of the sequence and prove
it is correct by induction.
Chapter Review
1. Find 3 + 7 + 11 + · · · + 427.
2. Consider the sequence 2, 6, 10, 14, . . . , 4n + 6.
(a) How many terms are there in the sequence?
(b) What is the second-to-last term?
(c) Find the sum of all the terms in the sequence.
(c) Find a closed formula once again, this time by recognizing the sequence
as a modification to some well known sequence(s). Explain.
5. Use polynomial fitting to find a closed formula for the sequence (a n )n≥1 :
(n + 1)(n − 2)
8. The sequence −1, 0, 2, 5, 9, 14 . . . has closed formula a n .
2
Use this fact to find a closed formula for the sequence 4, 10, 18, 28, 40, . . ..
9. The in song The Twelve Days of Christmas, my true love gave to me first 1
gift, then 2 gifts and 1 gift, then 3 gifts, 2 gifts and 1 gift, and so on. How
many gifts did my true love give me all together during the twelve days?
10. Consider the recurrence relation a n 3a n−1 + 10a n−2 with first two terms
a0 1 and a1 2.
(a) Write out the first 5 terms of the sequence defined by this recurrence
relation.
(b) Solve the recurrence relation. That is, find a closed formula for a n .
11. Consider the recurrence relation a n 2a n−1 + 8a n−2 , with initial terms
a0 1 and a1 3.
(a) Find the next two terms of the sequence (a2 and a 3 ).
(b) Solve the recurrence relation. That is, find a closed formula for the nth
term of the sequence.
12. Your magic chocolate bunnies reproduce like rabbits: every large bunny
produces 2 new mini bunnies each day, and each day every mini bunny born
the previous day grows into a large bunny. Assume you start with 2 mini
bunnies and no bunny ever dies (or gets eaten).
(a) Write out the first few terms of the sequence.
(b) Give a recursive definition of the sequence and explain why it is correct.
164 2. Sequences
(c) Find a closed formula for the nth term of the sequence.
Arguments
165
166 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
Investigate!
You stumble upon two trolls playing Stratego®. They tell you:
Could both trolls be knights? Recall that all trolls are either always-
truth-telling knights or always-lying knaves.
Sam walks with a limp” are exactly the same. They are both implications:
statements of the form, P → Q.
Truth Tables
Here’s a question about playing Monopoly:
If you get more doubles than any other player then you will lose,
or if you lose then you must have bought the most properties.
True or false? We will answer this question, and won’t need to know anything
about Monopoly. Instead we will look at the logical form of the statement.
We need to decide when the statement (P → Q) ∨ (Q → R) is true. Using
the definitions of the connectives in Section 0.2, we see that for this to be true,
either P → Q must be true or Q → R must be true (or both). Those are true
if either P is false or Q is true (in the first case) and Q is false or R is true
(in the second case). So—yeah, it gets kind of messy. Luckily, we can make
a chart to keep track of all the possibilities. Enter truth tables. The idea
is this: on each row, we list a possible combination of T’s and F’s (for true
and false) for each of the sentential variables, and then mark down whether
the statement in question is true or false in that case. We do this for every
possible combination of T’s and F’s. Then we can clearly see in which cases
the statement is true or false. For complicated statements, we will first fill in
values for each part of the statement, as a way of breaking up our task into
smaller, more manageable pieces.
Since the truth value of a statement is completely determined by the
truth values of its parts and how they are connected, all you really need
to know is the truth tables for each of the logical connectives. Here they
are:
P ¬P
T F
F T
None of these truth tables should come as a surprise; they are all just restat-
ing the definitions of the connectives. Let’s try another one.
168 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
Example 3.1.1
Make a truth table for the statement ¬P ∨ Q.
Solution. Note that this statement is not ¬(P ∨ Q), the negation
belongs to P alone. Here is the truth table:
P Q ¬P ¬P ∨ Q
T T F T
T F F F
F T T T
F F T T
Example 3.1.2
Analyze the statement, “if you get more doubles than any other player
you will lose, or that if you lose you must have bought the most
properties,” using truth tables.
Solution. Represent the statement in symbols as (P → Q) ∨ (Q →
R), where P is the statement “you get more doubles than any other
player,” Q is the statement “you will lose,” and R is the statement
“you must have bought the most properties.” Now make a truth
table.
The truth table needs to contain 8 rows in order to account for every
possible combination of truth and falsity among the three statements.
Here is the full truth table:
P Q R P→Q Q→R (P → Q) ∨ (Q → R)
T T T T T T
T T F T F T
T F T F T T
T F F F T T
F T T T T T
F T F T F T
F F T T T T
F F F T T T
3.1. Propositional Logic 169
The first three columns are simply a systematic listing of all possi-
ble combinations of T and F for the three statements (do you see how
you would list the 16 possible combinations for four statements?).
The next two columns are determined by the values of P, Q, and R
and the definition of implication. Then, the last column is determined
by the values in the previous two columns and the definition of ∨. It
is this final column we care about.
Notice that in each of the eight possible cases, the statement in
question is true. So our statement about monopoly is true (regardless
of how many properties you own, how many doubles you roll, or
whether you win or lose).
Logical Equivalence
You might have noticed that the final column in the truth table from ¬P ∨ Q
is identical to the final column in the truth table for P → Q:
P Q P→Q ¬P ∨ Q
T T T T
T F F F
F T T T
F F T T
This says that no matter what P and Q are, the statements ¬P ∨ Q and
P → Q either both true or both false. We therefore say these statements are
logically equivalent.
Logical Equivalence
Example 3.1.3
Are the statements, “it will not rain or snow” and “it will not rain and
it will not snow” logically equivalent?
Solution. We want to know whether ¬(P ∨Q) is logically equivalent
to ¬P ∧ ¬Q. Make a truth table which includes both statements:
P Q ¬(P ∨ Q) ¬P ∧ ¬Q
T T F F
T F F F
F T F F
F F T T
Since in every row the truth values for the two statements are
equal, the two statements are logically equivalent.
De Morgan’s Laws
This suggests there might be a sort of “algebra” you could apply to state-
ments (okay, there is: it is called Boolean algebra) to transform one statement
into another. We can start collecting useful examples of logical equivalence,
and apply them in succession to a statement, instead of writing out a com-
plicated truth table. We will probably also want a way to deal with double
negation:
Double Negation
¬(¬P ∨ Q).
¬¬P ∧ ¬Q.
Notice that the above example illustrates that the negation of an implica-
tion is NOT an implication: it is a conjunction!
To verify that two statements are logically equivalent, you can use truth
tables or a sequence of logically equivalent replacements. The truth table
method, although cumbersome, has the advantage that it can verify that two
statements are NOT logically equivalent.
Example 3.1.5
Are the statements (P ∨ Q) → R and (P → R) ∨ (Q → R) logically
equivalent?
Solution. Note that while we could start rewriting these statements
with logically equivalent replacements in the hopes of transforming
one into another, we will never be sure that our failure is due to their
lack of logical equivalence rather than our lack of imagination. So
instead, let’s make a truth table:
P Q R (P ∨ Q) → R (P → R) ∨ (Q → R)
T T T T T
T T F F F
T F T T T
T F F F T
F T T T T
F T F F T
F F T T T
F F F T T
172 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
Deductions
Investigate!
Holmes owns two suits: one black and one tweed. He always wears
either a tweed suit or sandals. Whenever he wears his tweed suit
and a purple shirt, he chooses to not wear a tie. He never wears the
tweed suit unless he is also wearing either a purple shirt or sandals.
Whenever he wears sandals, he also wears a purple shirt. Yesterday,
Holmes wore a bow tie. What else did he wear?
If Edith eats her vegetables, then she can have a cookie. Edith ate
her vegetables. Therefore Edith gets a cookie.
How do we know this is valid? Let’s look at the form of the statements. Let P
denote “Edith eats her vegetables” and Q denote “Edith can have a cookie.”
The logical form of the argument is then:
P→Q
P
∴ Q
P Q P→Q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T
3.1. Propositional Logic 173
This is just the truth table for P → Q, but what matters here is that all
the lines in the deduction rule have their own column in the truth table.
Remember that an argument is valid provided the conclusion must be true
given that the premises are true. The premises in this case are P → Q and
P. Which rows of the truth table correspond to both of these being true? P is
true in the first two rows, and of those, only the first row has P → Q true as
well. And lo-and-behold, in this one case, Q is also true. So if P → Q and P
are both true, we see that Q must be true as well.
Here are a few more examples.
Example 3.1.6
Show that
P→Q
¬P → Q
∴ Q
P Q P→Q ¬P ¬P → Q
T T T F T
T F F F T
F T T T T
F F T T F
Example 3.1.7
Decide whether
P→R
Q→R
R
∴ P∨Q
Look at the second to last row. Here all three premises of the
argument are true, but the conclusion is false. Thus this is not a valid
deduction rule.
While we have the truth table in front of us, look at rows 1 and
5. These are the only rows in which all of the statements statements
P → R, Q → R, and P ∨ Q are true. It also happens that R is true in
these rows as well. Thus we have discovered a new deduction rule
we know is valid:
P→R
Q→R
P∨Q
∴ R
Beyond Propositions
As we saw in Section 0.2, not every statement can be analyzed using logical
connectives alone. For example, we might want to work with the statement:
notice that our statement above still used the (propositional) logical connec-
tives. Everything that we learned about logical equivalence and deductions
still applies. However, predicate logic allows us to analyze statements at a
higher resolution, digging down into the individual propositions P, Q, etc.
A full treatment of predicate logic is beyond the scope of this text. One
reason is that there is no systematic procedure for deciding whether two
statements in predicate logic are logically equivalent (i.e., there is no analogue
to truth tables here). Rather, we end with a couple of examples of logical
equivalence and deduction, to pique your interest.
Example 3.1.8
Suppose we claim that there is no smallest number. We can translate
this into symbols as
¬∃x∀y(x ≤ y)
(literally, “it is not true that there is a number x such that for all
numbers y, x is less than or equal to y”).
However, we know how negation interacts with quantifiers: we
can pass a negation over a quantifier by switching the quantifier type
(between universal and existential). So the statement above should
be logically equivalent to
Example 3.1.9
Can you switch the order of quantifiers? For example, consider the
two statements:
∃y∀xP(x, y)
∴ ∀x∃yP(x, y)
Put yet another way, this says that the single statement
∃y∀xP(x, y) → ∀x∃yP(x, y)
Exercises
1. Consider the statement about a party, “If it’s your birthday or there will
be cake, then there will be cake.”
(a) Translate the above statement into symbols. Clearly state which state-
ment is P and which is Q.
(b) Make a truth table for the statement.
(c) Assuming the statement is true, what (if anything) can you conclude if
there will be cake?
(d) Assuming the statement is true, what (if anything) can you conclude if
there will not be cake?
(e) Suppose you found out that the statement was a lie. What can you
conclude?
8. Use De Morgan’s Laws, and any other logical equivalence facts you know to
simplify the following statements. Show all your steps. Your final statements
should have negations only appear directly next to the sentence variables or
predicates (P, Q, E(x), etc.), and no double negations. It would be a good
idea to use only conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations.
(a) ¬((¬P ∧ Q) ∨ ¬(R ∨ ¬S)).
(b) ¬((¬P → ¬Q) ∧ (¬Q → R)) (careful with the implications).
9. Tommy Flanagan was telling you what he ate yesterday afternoon. He tells
you, “I had either popcorn or raisins. Also, if I had cucumber sandwiches,
then I had soda. But I didn’t drink soda or tea.” Of course you know that
Tommy is the worlds worst liar, and everything he says is false. What did
Tommy eat?
Justify your answer by writing all of Tommy’s statements using sentence
variables (P, Q, R, S, T), taking their negations, and using these to deduce
what Tommy actually ate.
10. Determine if the following deduction rule is valid:
P∨Q
¬P
∴ Q
P → (Q ∨ R)
¬(P → Q)
∴ R
178 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
(P ∧ Q) → R
¬P ∨ ¬Q
∴ ¬R
13. Can you chain implications together? That is, if P → Q and Q → R, does
that means the P → R? Can you chain more implications together? Let’s
find out:
(a) Prove that the following is a valid deduction rule:
P→Q
Q→R
∴ P→R
(b) Prove that the following is a valid deduction rule for any n ≥ 2:
P1 → P2
P2 → P3
..
.
Pn−1 → Pn
∴ P1 → Pn .
I suggest you don’t go through the trouble of writing out a 2n row truth
table. Instead, you should use part (a) and mathematical induction.
14. We can also simplify statements in predicate logic using our rules for
passing negations over quantifiers, and then applying propositional logical
equivalence to the “inside” propositional part. Simplify the statements below
(so negation appears only directly next to predicates).
(a) ¬∃x∀y(¬O(x) ∨ E(y)).
(b) ¬∀x¬∀y¬(x < y ∧ ∃z(x < z ∨ y < z)).
(c) There is a number n for which no other number is either less n than or
equal to n.
(d) It is false that for every number n there are two other numbers which n
is between.
P1
P2
..
.
Pn
∴ Q
(P1 ∧ P2 ∧ · · · ∧ Pn ) → Q
is a tautology.
3.2 Proofs
Investigate!
Decide which of the following are valid proofs of the following state-
ment:
ab (2k + 1)(2m + 1)
4km + 2k + 2m + 1
2(2km + k + m) + 1.
Therefore ab is odd.
ab (2k)b
2(kb).
Thus ab is even.
Then
2n (2k + 1)(2j + 1)
2n 4k j + 2k + 2j + 1
1
n 2k j + k + j + .
2
ab (2k + 1)b
2n 2kb + b
2n − 2kb b
2(n − kb) b.
p!. Thus the prime factorization of N contains prime numbers (possibly just
N itself) all greater than p. So p is not the largest prime, a contradiction.
Therefore there are infinitely many primes. qed
This proof is an example of a proof by contradiction, one of the standard
styles of mathematical proof. First and foremost, the proof is an argument. It
contains sequence of statements, the last being the conclusion which follows
from the previous statements. The argument is valid so the conclusion must
be true if the premises are true. Let’s go through the proof line by line.
1. Suppose there are only finitely many primes. [this is a premise. Note the
use of “suppose.”]
2. There must be a largest prime, call it p. [follows from line 1, by the definition
of “finitely many.”]
3. Let N p! + 1. [basically just notation, although this is the inspired part of
the proof; looking at p! + 1 is the key insight.]
4. N is larger than p. [by the definition of p!]
5. N is not divisible by any number less than or equal to p. [by definition,
p! is divisible by each number less than or equal to p, so p! + 1 is not.]
6. The prime factorization of N contains prime numbers greater than p.
[since N is divisible by each prime number in the prime factorization of N, and
by line 5.]
7. Therefore p is not the largest prime. [by line 6, N is divisible by a prime
larger than p.]
8. This is a contradiction. [from line 2 and line 7: the largest prime is p and
there is a prime larger than p.]
9. Therefore there are infinitely many primes. [from line 1 and line 8: our
only premise lead to a contradiction, so the premise is false.]
We should say a bit more about the last line. Up through line 8, we have a
valid argument with the premise “there are only finitely many primes” and
the conclusion “there is a prime larger than the largest prime.” This is a valid
argument as each line follows from previous lines. So if the premises are
true, then the conclusion must be true. However, the conclusion is NOT true.
The only way out: the premise must be false.
The sort of line-by-line analysis we did above is a great way to really un-
derstand what is going on. Whenever you come across a proof in a textbook,
you really should make sure you understand what each line is saying and
why it is true. Additionally, it is equally important to understand the overall
structure of the proof. This is where using tools from logic is helpful. Luckily
there are a relatively small number of standard proof styles that keep showing
up again and again. Being familiar with these can help understand proof, as
well as give ideas of how to write your own.
182 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
Direct Proof
The simplest (from a logic perspective) style of proof is a direct proof. Of-
ten all that is required to prove something is a systematic explanation of
what everything means. Direct proofs are especially useful when proving
implications. The general format to prove P → Q is this:
Example 3.2.2
Prove: For all integers n, if n is even, then n 2 is even.
Solution. The format of the proof with be this: Let n be an arbitrary
integer. Assume that n is even. Explain explain explain. Therefore
n 2 is even.
To fill in the details, we will basically just explain what it means for
n to be even, and then see what that means for n 2 . Here is a complete
proof.
Example 3.2.3
Prove: For all integers a, b, and c, if a|b and b|c then a|c. Here x| y,
read “x divides y” means that y is a multiple of x (so x will divide
into y without remainder).
Solution. Even before we know what the divides symbol means, we
can set up a direct proof for this statement. It will go something like
this: Let a, b, and c be arbitrary integers. Assume that a|b and b|c.
Dot dot dot. Therefore a|c.
How do we connect the dots? We say what our hypothesis (a|b
and b|c) really means and why this gives us what the conclusion (a|c)
really means. Another way to say that a|b is to say that b ka for
some integer k (that is, that b is a multiple of a). What are we going
for? That c la, for some integer l (because we want c to be a multiple
of a). Here is the complete proof.
3.2. Proofs 183
Proof. Let a, b, and c be integers. Assume that a|b and b|c. In other
words, b is a multiple of a and c is a multiple of b. So there are
integers k and j such that b ka and c jb. Combining these
(through substitution) we get that c jka. But jk is an integer, so this
says that c is a multiple of a. Therefore a|c. qed
Proof by Contrapositive
Recall that an implication P → Q is logically equivalent to its contrapositive
¬Q → ¬P. There are plenty of examples of statements which are hard
to prove directly, but whose contrapositive can easily be proved directly.
This is all that proof by contrapositive does. It gives a direct proof of the
contrapositive of the implication. This is enough because the contrapositive
is logically equivalent to the original implication.
The skeleton of the proof of P → Q by contrapositive will always look
roughly like this:
Example 3.2.4
Is the statement “for all integers n, if n 2 is even, then n is even” true?
Solution. This is the converse of the statement we proved above
using a direct proof. From trying a few examples, this statement
definitely appears this is true. So let’s prove it.
A direct proof of this statement would require fixing an arbitrary
n and assuming that n 2 is even. But it is not at all clear how this
would allow us to conclude anything about n. Just because n 2 2k
does not in itself suggest how we could write n as a multiple of 2.
Try something else: write the contrapositive of the statement. We
get, for all integers n, if n is odd then n 2 is odd. This looks much
more promising. Our proof will look something like this:
Let n be an arbitrary integer. Suppose that n is not even. This
means that . . . . In other words . . . . But this is the same as saying . . . .
Therefore n 2 is not even.
Now we fill in the details:
Example 3.2.5
Prove: for all integers a and b, if a + b is odd, then a is odd or b is odd.
Solution. The problem with trying a direct proof is that it will be
hard to separate a and b from knowing something about a + b. On
the other hand, if we know something about a and b separately, then
combining them might give us information about a + b. The contra-
positive of the statement we are trying to prove is: for all integers a
and b, if a and b are even, then a + b is even. Thus our proof will have
the following format:
Let a and b be integers. Assume that a and b are both even. la la
la. Therefore a + b is even.
Here is a complete proof:
Proof. Let a and b be integers. Assume that a and b are even. Then
a 2k and b 2l for some integers k and l. Now a + b 2k + 2l
2(k + 1). Since k + l is an integer, we see that a + b is even, completing
the proof. qed
Note that our assumption that a and b are even is really the nega-
tion of a or b is odd. We used De Morgan’s law here.
Proof by Contradiction
There might be statements which really cannot be rephrased as implications.
√
For example, “ 2 is irrational.” In this case, it is hard to know where to start.
What can we assume? Well, say we want to prove the statement P. What if
we could prove that ¬P → Q where Q was false? If this implication is true,
and Q is false, what can we say about ¬P? It must be false as well, which
makes P true!
This is why proof by contradiction works. If we can prove that ¬P leads
to a contradiction, then the only conclusion is that ¬P is false, so P is true.
3.2. Proofs 185
Example 3.2.7
√
Prove that 2 is irrational.
√
Proof. Suppose not. Then 2 is equal to a fraction ba . Without loss of
generality, assume ba is in lowest terms (otherwise reduce the fraction).
So,
a2
2 2
b
2b 2 a 2
Thus a 2 is even, and as such a is even. So a 2k for some integer k,
and a 2 4k 2 . We then have,
2b 2 4k 2
b 2 2k 2
Thus b 2 is even, and as such b is even. Since a is√also even, we see that
b is not in lowest terms, a contradiction. Thus 2 is irrational. qed
a
Example 3.2.8
Prove: There are no integers x and y such that x 2 4y + 2.
Example 3.2.9
The Pigeonhole Principle: If more than n pigeons fly into n pigeon
holes, then at least one pigeon hole will contain at least two pigeons.
Prove this!
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
n2 − n + 41 41 43 47 53 61 71 83
Example 3.2.10
Above we proved, “for all integers a and b, if a + b is odd, then a is
odd or b is odd.” Is the converse true?
1This is not to say that looking at examples is a waste of time. Doing so will often give you
an idea of how to write a proof. But the examples do not belong in the proof.
3.2. Proofs 187
Proof by Cases
We could go on and on and on about different proof styles (we haven’t even
mentioned induction or combinatorial proofs here), but instead we will end
with one final useful technique: proof by cases. The idea is to prove that P
is true by proving that Q → P and ¬Q → P for some statement Q. So no
matter what, whether or not Q is true, we know that P is true. In fact, we
could generalize this. Suppose we want to prove P. We know that at least
one of the statements Q1 , Q 2 , . . . , Q n are true. If we can show that Q 1 → P
and Q2 → P and so on all the way to Q n → P, then we can conclude P. The
key thing is that we want to be sure that one of our cases (the Q i ’s) must be
true no matter what.
If that last paragraph was confusing, perhaps an example will make things
better.
Example 3.2.11
Prove: For any integer n, the number (n 3 − n) is even.
Solution. It is hard to know where to start this, because we don’t
know much of anything about n. We might be able to prove that
n 3 − n is even if we knew that n was even. In fact, we could probably
188 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
prove that n 3 − n was even if n was odd. But since n must either be
even or odd, this will be enough. Here’s the proof.
n 3 − n 8k 3 − 2k
2(4k 2 − k),
Exercises
1. Consider the statement “for all integers a and b, if a + b is even, then a and
b are even”
(a) Write the contrapositive of the statement.
(b) Write the converse of the statement.
(c) Write the negation of the statement.
(d) Is the original statement true or false? Prove your answer.
(e) Is the contrapositive of the original statement true or false? Prove your
answer.
(f) Is the converse of the original statement true or false? Prove your answer.
(g) Is the negation of the original statement true or false? Prove your answer.
3. Your “friend” has shown you a “proof” he wrote to show that 1 3. Here
is the proof:
Proof. I claim that 1 3. Of course we can do anything to one side of an
equation as long as we also do it to the other side. So subtract 2 from both
sides. This gives −1 1. Now square both sides, to get 1 1. And we all
agree this is true. qed
3.2. Proofs 189
8. Prove the statement: For all integers n, if 5n is odd, then n is odd. Clearly
state the style of proof you are using.
9. Prove the statement: For all integers a, b, and c, if a 2 + b 2 c 2 , then a or b
is even.
(x + y)2
10. Prove: x y if and only if x y . Note, you will need to prove
4
two “directions” here: the “if” and the “only if” part.
190 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
11. The game TENZI comes with 40 six-sided dice (each numbered 1 to 6).
Suppose you roll all 40 dice.
(a) Prove that there will be at least seven dice that land on the same number.
(b) How many dice would you have to roll before you were guaranteed
that some four of them would all match or all be different? Prove your
answer.
17. Suppose you are at a party with 19 of your closest friends (so including
you, there are 20 people there). Explain why there must be least two people
at the party who are friends with the same number of people at the party.
Assume friendship is always reciprocated.
18. Your friend has given you his list of 115 best Doctor Who episodes (in
order of greatness). It turns out that you have seen 60 of them. Prove that
there are at least two episodes you have seen that are exactly four episodes
apart.
3.2. Proofs 191
19. Suppose you have an n × n chessboard but your dog has eaten one of the
corner squares. Can you still cover the remaining squares with dominoes?
What needs to be true about n? Give necessary and sufficient conditions (that
is, say exactly which values of n work and which do not work). Prove your
answers.
Chapter Review
1. Complete a truth table for the statement ¬P → (Q ∧ R).
2. Suppose you know that the statement “if Peter is not tall, then Quincy is
fat and Robert is skinny” is false. What, if anything, can you conclude about
Peter and Robert if you know that Quincy is indeed fat? Explain (you may
reference problem 3.3.1).
3. Are the statements P → (Q ∨ R) and (P → Q) ∨ (P → R) logically
equivalent? Explain your answer.
4. Is the following a valid deduction rule? Explain.
P→Q
P→R
∴ P → (Q ∧ R).
5. Write the negation, converse and contrapositive for each of the statements
below.
(a) If the power goes off, then the food will spoil.
(b) If the door is closed, then the light is off.
(c) ∀x(x < 1 → x 2 < 1).
(d) For all natural numbers n, if n is prime, then n is solitary.
(e) For all functions f , if f is differentiable, then f is continuous.
(f) For all integers a and b, if a · b is even, then a and b are even.
(g) For every integer x and every integer y there is an integer n such that if
x > 0 then nx > y.
(h) For all real numbers x and y, if x y 0 then x 0 or y 0.
(i) For every student in Math 228, if they do not understand implications,
then they will fail the exam.
8. Write each of the following statements in the form, “if . . . , then . . . .” Care-
ful, some of the statements might be false (which is alright for the purposes
of this question).
(a) To lose weight, you must exercise.
(b) To lose weight, all you need to do is exercise.
(c) Every American is patriotic.
(d) You are patriotic only if you are American.
(e) The set of rational numbers is a subset of the real numbers.
(f) A number is prime if it is not even.
(g) Either the Broncos will win the Super Bowl, or they won’t play in the
Super Bowl.
10. Consider the statement: for all integers n, if n is odd, then 7n is odd.
(a) Prove the statement. What sort of proof are you using?
(b) Prove the converse. What sort of proof are you using?
11. Suppose you break your piggy bank and scoop up a handful of 22 coins
(pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters).
(a) Prove that you must have at least 6 coins of a single denomination.
(b) Suppose you have an odd number of pennies. Prove that you must have
an odd number of at least one of the other types of coins.
3.3. Chapter Summary 195
(c) How many coins would you need to scoop up to be sure that you either
had 4 coins that were all the same or 4 coins that were all different?
Prove your answer.
12. You come across four trolls playing bridge. They declare:
Troll 1: All trolls here see at least one knave.
Troll 2: I see at least one troll that sees only knaves.
Troll 3: Some trolls are scared of goats.
Troll 4: All trolls are scared of goats.
Are there any trolls that are not scared of goats? Recall, of course, that all
trolls are either knights (who always tell the truth) or knaves (who always
lie).
196 3. Symbolic Logic and Proofs
Chapter 4
Graph Theory
Investigate!
In the time of Euler, in the town of Königsberg in Prussia, there was
a river containing two islands. The islands were connected to the
banks of the river by seven bridges (as seen below). The bridges were
very beautiful, and on their days off, townspeople would spend time
walking over the bridges. As time passed, a question arose: was it
possible to plan a walk so that you cross each bridge once and only
once? Euler was able to answer this question. Are you?
197
198 4. Graph Theory
Example 4.0.1
Al, Bob, Cam, Dan, and Euclid are all members of the social network-
ing website Facebook. The site allows members to be “friends” with
each other. It turns out that Al and Cam are friends, as are Bob and
Dan. Euclid is friends with everyone. Represent this situation with a
graph.
Solution. Each person will be represented by a vertex and each
friendship will be represented by an edge. That is, two vertices will
be adjacent (there will be an edge between them) if and only if the
people represented by those vertices are friends. We get the following
graph:
A B
E
C D
Example 4.0.2
Each of three houses must be connected to each of three utilities. Is it
possible to do this without any of the utility lines crossing?
4.1. Definitions 199
Solution. We will answer this question later. For now, notice how
we would ask this question in the context of graph theory. We are
really asking whether it is possible to redraw the graph below without
any edges crossing (except at vertices). Think of the top row as the
houses, bottom row as the utilities.
4.1 Definitions
Investigate!
Which (if any) of the graphs below are the same?
f b c f c b f v1 v2 v3
b d
a c e a d e a e d v6 v5 v4
Actually, all the graphs we have seen above are just drawings of
graphs. A graph is really an abstract mathematical object consisting
of two sets V and E where E is a set of 2-element subsets of V. Are the
graphs below the same or different?
Graph 1:
V {a, b, c, d, e},
E {{a, b}, {a, c}, {a, d}, {a, e}, {b, c}, {d, e}}.
Graph 2:
V {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 , v5 },
E {{v 1 , v3 }, {v1 , v5 }, {v2 , v4 }, {v2 , v 5 }, {v3 , v5 }, {v 4 , v5 }}.
Before we start studying graphs, we need to agree upon what a graph is.
While we almost always think of graphs as pictures (dots connected by lines)
this is fairly ambiguous. Do the lines need to be straight? Does it matter how
long the lines are or how large the dots are? Can there be two lines connecting
the same pair of dots? Can one line connect three dots?
The way we avoid ambiguities in mathematics is to provide concrete and
rigorous definitions. Crafting good definitions is not easy, but it is incredibly
important. The definition is the agreed upon starting point from which all
truths in mathematics proceed. Is there a graph with no edges? We have to
look at the definition to see if this is possible.
We want our definition to be precise and unambiguous, but it also must
agree with our intuition for the objects we are studying. It needs to be useful:
we could define a graph to be a six legged mammal, but that would not let
us solve any problems about bridges. Instead, here is the (now) standard
definition of a graph.
Graph Definition
Strange. Nowhere in the definition is there talk of dots or lines. From the
definition, a graph could be
({a, b, c, d}, {{a, b}, {a, c}, {b, c}, {b, d}, {c, d}}).
Here we have a graph with four vertices (the letters a, b, c, d) and four edges
(the pairs {a, b}, {a, c}, {b, c}, {b, d}, {c, d})).
Looking at sets and sets of 2-element sets is difficult to process. That is
why we often draw a representation of these sets. We put a dot down for each
vertex, and connect two dots with a line precisely when those two vertices
are one of the 2-element subsets in our set of edges. Thus one way to draw
the graph described above is this:
a b
c d
However we could also have drawn the graph differently. For example
either of these:
4.1. Definitions 201
a d
c b a b c d
We should be careful about what it means for two graphs to be “the same.”
Actually, given our definition, this is easy: Are the vertex sets equal? Are the
edge sets equal? We know what it means for sets to be equal, and graphs are
nothing but a pair of two special sorts of sets.
Example 4.1.1
Are the graphs below equal?
G1 ({a, b, c}, {{a, b}, {b, c}}); G2 ({a, b, c}, {{a, c}, {c, b}})
equal?
Solution. No. Here the vertex sets of each graph are equal, which
is a good start. Also, both graphs have two edges. In the first graph,
we have edges {a, b} and {b, c}, while in the second graph we have
edges {a, c} and {c, b}. Now we do have {b, c} {c, b}, so that is not
the problem. The issue is that {a, b} , {a, c}. Since the edge sets of
the two graphs are not equal (as sets), the graphs are not equal (as
graphs).
Even if two graphs are not equal, they might be basically the same. The
graphs in the previous example could be drawn like this:
G1 G2
a b c a c b
Graphs that are basically the same (but perhaps not equal) are called
isomorphic. We will give a precise definition of this term after a quick
example:
Example 4.1.2
Consider the graphs:
G1 {V1 , E1 } where V1 {a, b, c} and E1 {{a, b}, {a, c}, {b, c}};
G2 {V2 , E2 } where V2 {u, v, w} and E2 {{u, v}, {u, w}, {v, w}}.
a u
b c v w
a a
G1 : G2 :
d b d b
c c
Sometimes we will talk about a graph with a special name (like K n or the
Peterson graph) or perhaps draw a graph without any labels. In this case we
are really referring to all graphs isomorphic to any copy of that particular
graph. A collection of isomorphic graphs is often called an isomorphism
class.1
1This is not unlike geometry, where we might have more than one copy of a particular triangle.
There instead of isomorphic we say congruent.
204 4. Graph Theory
There are other relationships between graphs that we care about, other
than equality and being isomorphic. For example, compare the following
pair of graphs:
These are definitely not isomorphic, but notice that the graph on the right
looks like it might be part of the graph on the left, especially if we draw it like
this:
We would like to say that the smaller graph is a subgraph of the larger.
We should give a careful definition of this. In fact, there are two reasonable
notions for what a subgroup should mean.
Subgraphs
Notice that every induced subgraph is also an ordinary subgraph, but not
conversely. Think of a subgraph as the result of deleting some vertices and
edges from the larger graph. For the subgraph to be an induced subgraph,
we can still delete vertices, but now we only delete those edges that included
the deleted vertices.
4.1. Definitions 205
Example 4.1.4
Consider the graphs:
f f f
d e d d d
a b c a b c a b c a b c
G1 G2 G3 G4
Back to some basic graph theory definitions. Notice that all the graphs
we have drawn above have the property that no pair of vertices is connected
more than once, and no vertex is connected to itself. Graphs like these are
sometimes called simple, although we will just call them graphs. This is
because our definition for a graph says that the edges form a set of 2-element
subsets of the vertices. Remember that it doesn’t make sense to say a set
contains an element more than once. So no pair of vertices can be connected
by an edge more than once. Also, since each edge must be a set containing
two vertices, we cannot have a single vertex connected to itself by an edge.
That said, there are times we want to consider double (or more) edges
and single edge loops. For example, the “graph” we drew for the Bridges of
Königsberg problem had double edges because there really are two bridges
connecting a particular island to the near shore. We will call these objects
multigraphs. This is a good name: a multiset is a set in which we are allowed
to include a single element multiple times.
The graphs above are also connected: you can get from any vertex to any
other vertex by following some path of edges. A graph that is not connected
can be thought of as two separate graphs drawn close together. For example,
the following graph is NOT connected because there is no path from a to b:
a b
206 4. Graph Theory
Example 4.1.5
At a recent math seminar, 9 mathematicians greeted each other by
shaking hands. Is it possible that each mathematician shook hands
with exactly 7 people at the seminar?
Solution. It seems like this should be possible. Each mathematician
chooses one person to not shake hands with. But this cannot happen.
We are asking whether a graph with 9 vertices can have each vertex
have degree 7. If such a graph existed, the sum of the degrees of the
vertices would be 9 · 7 63. This would be twice the number of edges
(handshakes) resulting in a graph with 31.5 edges. That is impossible.
Thus at least one (in fact an odd number) of the mathematicians must
have shaken hands with an even number of people at the seminar.
Named Graphs
Some graphs are used more than others, and get special names.
K5 K 2,3 C6 P6
Graph
A collection of vertices, some of which are connected by edges.
More precisely, a pair of sets V and E where V is a set of vertices
and E is a set of 2-element subsets of V.
Adjacent
Two vertices are adjacent if they are connected by an edge. Two
edges are adjacent if they share a vertex.
Bipartite graph
A graph for which it is possible to divide the vertices into two
disjoint sets such that there are no edges between any two vertices
in the same set.
Complete graph
A graph in which every pair of vertices is adjacent.
208 4. Graph Theory
Connected
A graph is connected if there is a path from any vertex to any
other vertex.
Chromatic number
The minimum number of colors required in a proper vertex col-
oring of the graph.
Cycle
A path (see below) that starts and stops at the same vertex, but
contains no other repeated vertices.
Degree of a vertex
The number of edges incident to a vertex.
Euler path
A walk which uses each edge exactly once.
Euler circuit
An Euler path which starts and stops at the same vertex.
Multigraph
A multigraph is just like a graph but can contain multiple edges
between two vertices as well as single edge loops (that is an edge
from a vertex to itself).
Planar
A graph which can be drawn (in the plane) without any edges
crossing.
Subgraph
We say that H is a subgraph of G if every vertex and edge of H
is also a vertex or edge of G. We say H is an induced subgraph
of G if every vertex of H is a vertex of G and each pair of vertices
in H are adjacent in H if and only if they are adjacent in G.
Vertex coloring
An assignment of colors to each of the vertices of a graph. A
vertex coloring is proper if adjacent vertices are always colored
differently.
4.1. Definitions 209
Walk A sequence of vertices such that consecutive vertices (in the se-
quence) are adjacent (in the graph). A walk in which no vertex is
repeated is called simple.
Exercises
1. If 10 people each shake hands with each other, how many handshakes took
place? What does this question have to do with graph theory?
2. Among a group of 5 people, is it possible for everyone to be friends with
exactly 2 of the people in the group? What about 3 of the people in the group?
3. Is it possible for two different (non-isomorphic) graphs to have the same
number of vertices and the same number of edges? What if the degrees of
the vertices in the two graphs are the same (so both graphs have vertices with
degrees 1, 2, 2, 3, and 4, for example)? Draw two such graphs or explain why
not.
4. Are the two graphs below equal? Are they isomorphic? If they are
isomorphic, give the isomorphism. If not, explain.
Graph 1: V {a, b, c, d, e}, E {{a, b}, {a, c}, {a, e}, {b, d}, {b, e}, {c, d}}.
a
e b
Graph 2: d c
x a b c d e f g
f (x) v4 v5 v1 v6 v2 v3 v7
(c) Is the graph pictured below isomorphic to Graph 1 and Graph 2? Ex-
plain.
Investigate!
When a connected graph can be drawn without any edges crossing, it
is called planar. When a planar graph is drawn in this way, it divides
the plane into regions called faces.
When is it possible to draw a graph so that none of the edges cross? If this
is possible, we say the graph is planar (since you can draw it on the plane).
Notice that the definition of planar includes the phrase “it is possible to.”
This means that even if a graph does not look like it is planar, it still might be.
Perhaps you can redraw it in a way in which no edges cross. For example,
this is a planar graph:
The graphs are the same, so if one is planar, the other must be too. How-
ever, the original drawing of the graph was not a planar representation of
the graph.
When a planar graph is drawn without edges crossing, the edges and
vertices of the graph divide the plane into regions. We will call each region
a face. The graph above has 3 faces (yes, we do include the “outside” region
as a face). The number of faces does not change no matter how you draw the
graph (as long as you do so without the edges crossing), so it makes sense to
ascribe the number of faces as a property of the planar graph.
A warning: you can only count faces when the graph is drawn in a
planar way. For example, consider these two representations of the same
graph:
If you try to count faces using the graph on the left, you might say there
are 5 faces (including the outside). But drawing the graph with a planar
representation shows that in fact there are only 4 faces.
212 4. Graph Theory
For any (connected) planar graph with v vertices, e edges and f faces,
we have
v−e+ f 2
Why is Euler’s formula true? One way to convince yourself of its validity
is to draw a planar graph step by step. Start with the graph P2 :
Any connected graph (besides just a single isolated vertex) must contain
this subgraph. Now build up to your graph by adding edges and vertices.
Each step will consist of either adding a new vertex connected by a new edge
to part of your graph (so creating a new “spike”) or by connecting two vertices
already in the graph with a new edge (completing a circuit).
What do these “moves” do? When adding the spike, the number of edges
increases by 1, the number of vertices increases by one, and the number of
faces remains the same. But this means that v − e + f does not change.
Completing a circuit adds one edge, adds one face, and keeps the number of
vertices the same. So again, v − e + f does not change.
Since we can build any graph using a combination of these two moves,
and doing so never changes the quantity v − e + f , that quantity will be the
same for all graphs. But notice that our starting graph P2 has v 2, e 1 and
f 1, so v − e + f 2. This argument is essentially a proof by induction. A
good exercise would be to rewrite it as a formal induction proof.
4.2. Planar Graphs 213
Non-planar Graphs
Investigate!
For the complete graphs K n , we would like to be able to say something
about the number of vertices, edges, and (if the graph is planar) faces.
Let’s first consider K3 :
If you try to redraw this without edges crossing, you quickly get into
trouble. There seems to be one edge too many. In fact, we can prove that no
matter how you draw it, K 5 will always have edges crossing.
Theorem 4.2.1. K 5 is not planar.
Proof. The proof is by contradiction. So assume that K 5 is planar. Then the
graph must satisfy Euler’s formula for planar graphs. K 5 has 5 vertices and
10 edges, so we get
5 − 10 + f 2
which says that if the graph is drawn without any edges crossing, there would
be f 7 faces.
Now consider how many edges surround each face. Each face must be
surrounded by at least 3 edges. Let B be the total number of boundaries around
all the faces in the graph. Thus we have that B ≥ 3 f . But also B 2e, since
each edge is used as a boundary exactly twice. Putting this together we get
3 f ≤ 2e
214 4. Graph Theory
Proving that K 3,3 is not planar answers the houses and utilities puzzle:
it is not possible to connect each of three houses to each of three utilities
without the lines crossing.
4 f ≤ 2e.
But this would say that 20 ≤ 18, which is clearly false. Thus K 3,3 is not
planar. qed
Note the similarities and differences in these proofs. Both are proofs
by contradiction, and both start with using Euler’s formula to derive the
(supposed) number of faces in the graph. Then we find a relationship between
the number of faces and the number of edges based on how many edges
surround each face. This is the only difference. In the proof for K 5 , we got
3 f ≤ 2e and for K 3,3 we go 4 f ≤ 2e. The coefficient of f is the key. It is the
smallest number of edges which could surround any face. If some number of
edges surround a face, then these edges form a cycle. So that number is the
size of the smallest cycle in the graph.
In general, if we let g be the size of the smallest cycle in a graph (g stands
for girth, which is the technical term for this) then for any planar graph we
have g f ≤ 2e. When this disagrees with Euler’s formula, we know for sure
that the graph cannot be planar.
4.2. Planar Graphs 215
Polyhedra
Investigate!
A cube is an example of a convex polyhedron. It contains 6 identical
squares for its faces, 8 vertices, and 12 edges. The cube is a regular
polyhedron (also known as a Platonic solid) because each face is an
identical regular polygon and each vertex joins an equal number of
faces.
There are exactly four other regular polyhedra: the tetrahedron,
octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron with 4, 8, 12 and 20 faces
respectively. How many vertices and edges do each of these have?
In fact, every convex polyhedron can be projected onto the plane without
edges crossing. Think of placing the polyhedron inside a sphere, with a light
at the center of the sphere. The edges and vertices of the polyhedron cast a
shadow onto the interior of the sphere. You can then cut a hole in the sphere
in the middle of one of the projected faces and “stretch” the sphere to lay
down flat on the plane. The face that was punctured becomes the “outside”
face of the planar graph.
The point is, we can apply what we know about graphs (in particular
planar graphs) to convex polyhedra. Since every convex polyhedron can be
represented as a planar graph, we see that Euler’s formula for planar graphs
holds for all convex polyhedra as well. We also can apply the same sort
2An alternative definition for convex is that the internal angle formed by any two faces must
be less than 180 deg.
216 4. Graph Theory
Example 4.2.3
Is there a convex polyhedron consisting of three triangles and six pen-
tagons? What about three triangles, six pentagons and five heptagons
(7-sided polygons)?
Solution. How many edges would such polyhedra have? For the
first proposed polyhedron, the triangles would contribute a total of 9
edges, and the pentagons would contribute 30. However, this counts
each edge twice (as each edge borders exactly two faces), giving 39/2
edges, an impossibility. There is no such polyhedron.
The second polyhedron does not have this obstacle. The extra 35
edges contributed by the heptagons give a total of 74/2 = 37 edges. So
far so good. Now how many vertices does this supposed polyhedron
have? We can use Euler’s formula. There are 14 faces, so we have
v − 37 + 14 2 or equivalently v 25. But now use the vertices to
count the edges again. Each vertex must have degree at least three
(that is, each vertex joins at least three faces since the interior angle
of all the polygons must be less that 180◦ ), so the sum of the degrees
of vertices is at least 75. Since the sum of the degrees must be exactly
twice the number of edges, this says that there are strictly more than
37 edges. Again, there is no such polyhedron.
Proof. Recall that a regular polyhedron has all of its faces identical regular
polygons, and that each vertex has the same degree. Consider the cases,
broken up by what the regular polygon might be.
Case 1: Each face is a triangle. Let f be the number of faces. There are then
3 f /2 edges. Using Euler’s formula we have v − 3 f /2 + f 2 so v 2 + f /2.
Now each vertex has the same degree, say k. So the number of edges is also
kv/2. Putting this together gives
3f k(2 + f /2)
e
2 2
which says
6f
k
4+ f
4.2. Planar Graphs 217
6f
We need k and f to both be positive integers. Note that 4+ f is an increasing
function for positive f , and has a horizontal asymptote at 6. Thus the only
possible values for k are 3, 4, and 5. Each of these are possible. To get k 3, we
need f 4 (this is the tetrahedron). For k 4 we take f 8 (the octahedron).
For k 5 take f 20 (the icosahedron). Thus there are exactly three regular
polyhedra with triangles for faces.
Case 2: Each face is a square. Now we have e 4 f /2 2 f . Using Euler’s
formula we get v 2 + f , and counting edges using the degree k of each
vertex gives us
k(2 + f )
e 2f
2
Solving for k gives
4f 8f
k
2+ f 4+2f
This is again an increasing function, but this time the horizontal asymptote
is at k 4, so the only possible value that k could take is 3. This produces 6
faces, and we have a cube. There is only one regular polyhedron with square
faces.
Case 3: Each face is a pentagon. We perform the same calculation as
above, this time getting e 5 f /2 so v 2 + 3 f /2. Then
5f k(2 + 3 f /2)
e
2 2
so
10 f
k
4+3f
Now the horizontal asymptote is at 10
3 . This is less than 4, so we can only
hope of making k 3. We can do so by using 12 pentagons, getting the
dodecahedron. This is the only regular polyhedron with pentagons as faces.
Case 4: Each face is an n-gon with n ≥ 6. Following the same procedure
as above, we deduce that
2n f
k
4 + (n − 2) f
2n
which will be increasing to a horizontal asymptote of n−2 . When n 6,
this asymptote is at k 3. Any larger value of n will give an even smaller
asymptote. Therefore no regular polyhedra exist with faces larger than pen-
tagons.3 qed
3Notice that you can tile the plane with hexagons. This is an infinite planar graph; each vertex
has degree 3. These infinitely many hexagons correspond to the limit as f → ∞ to make k 3.
218 4. Graph Theory
Exercises
1. Is it possible for a planar graph to have 6 vertices, 10 edges and 5 faces?
Explain.
2. The graph G has 6 vertices with degrees 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5. How many edges
does G have? Could G be planar? If so, how many faces would it have. If
not, explain.
3. I’m thinking of a polyhedron containing 12 faces. Seven are triangles
and four are quadralaterals. The polyhedron has 11 vertices including those
around the mystery face. How many sides does the last face have?
4. Consider some classic polyhedrons.
(a) An octahedron is a regular polyhedron made up of 8 equilateral triangles
(it sort of looks like two pyramids with their bases glued together). Draw
a planar graph representation of an octahedron. How many vertices,
edges and faces does an octahedron (and your graph) have?
(b) The traditional design of a soccer ball is in fact a (spherical projection
of a) truncated icosahedron. This consists of 12 regular pentagons and
20 regular hexagons. No two pentagons are adjacent (so the edges of
each pentagon are shared only by hexagons). How many vertices, edges,
and faces does a truncated icosahedron have? Explain how you arrived
at your answers. Bonus: draw the planar graph representation of the
truncated icosahedron.
(c) Your “friend” claims that he has constructed a convex polyhedron out
of 2 triangles, 2 squares, 6 pentagons and 5 octagons. Prove that your
friend is lying. Hint: each vertex of a convex polyhedron must border
at least three faces.
5. Prove Euler’s formula using induction on the number of edges in the graph.
6. Prove Euler’s formula using induction on the number of vertices in the
graph.
7. Euler’s formula (v − e + f 2) holds for all connected planar graphs. What
if a graph is not connected? Suppose a planar graph has two components.
What is the value of v − e + f now? What if it has k components?
8. Prove that the Petersen graph (below) is not planar.
4.3. Coloring 219
Hint. What is the length of the shortest cycle? (This quantity is usually
called the girth of the graph.)
9. Prove that any planar graph with v vertices and e edges satisfies e ≤ 3v −6.
10. Prove that any planar graph must have a vertex of degree 5 or less.
4.3 Coloring
Investigate!
Mapmakers in the fictional land of Euleria have drawn the borders of
the various dukedoms of the land. To make the map pretty, they wish
to color each region. Adjacent regions must be colored differently, but
it is perfectly fine to color two distant regions with the same color.
What is the fewest colors the mapmakers can use and still accomplish
this task?
Example 4.3.1
Find the chromatic number of the graphs below.
G R
R B G
There is no way to color it with just two colors, since there are
three vertices mutually adjacent (i.e., a triangle). Thus the chromatic
number is 3.
4.3. Coloring 221
The graph on the right is just K 2,3 . As with all bipartite graphs,
this graph has chromatic number 2: color the vertices on the top row
red and the vertices on the bottom row blue.
It appears that there is no limit to how large chromatic numbers can get.
It should not come as a surprise that K n has chromatic number n. So how
could there possibly be an answer to the original map coloring question? If
the chromatic number of graph can be arbitrarily large, then it seems like
there would be no upper bound to the number of colors needed for any map.
But there is.
The key observation is that while it is true that for any number n, there is a
graph with chromatic number n, only some graphs arrive as representations
of maps. If you convert a map to a graph, the edges between vertices corre-
spond to borders between the countries. So you should be able to connect
vertices in such a way where the edges do not cross. In other words, the
graphs representing maps are all planar!
So the question is, what is the largest chromatic number of any planar
graph? The answer is the best known theorem of graph theory:
Theorem 4.3.2 (The Four Color Theorem). If G is a planar graph, then the
chromatic number of G is less than or equal to 4. Thus any map can be properly
colored with 4 or fewer colors.
We will not prove this theorem. Really. Even though the theorem is easy
to state and understand, the proof is not. In fact, there is currently no “easy”
known proof of the theorem. The current best proof still requires powerful
computers to check an unavoidable set of 633 reducible configurations. The idea
is that every graph must contain one of these reducible configurations (this
fact also needs to be checked by a computer) and that reducible configurations
can, in fact, be colored in 4 or fewer colors.
Coloring in General
Investigate!
The math department plans to offer 10 classes next semester. Some
classes cannot run at the same time (perhaps they are taught by the
same professor, or are required for seniors).
222 4. Graph Theory
How many different time slots are needed to teach these classes
(and which should be taught at the same time)? More importantly,
how could we use graph coloring to answer this question?
Example 4.3.3
Radio stations broadcast their signal at certain frequencies. However,
there are a limited number of frequencies to choose from, so nation-
wide many stations use the same frequency. This works because the
stations are far enough apart that their signals will not interfere; no
one radio could pick them up at the same time.
Suppose 10 new radio stations are to be set up in a currently
unpopulated (by radio stations) region. The radio stations that are
close enough to each other to cause interference are recorded in the
table below. What is the fewest number of frequencies the stations
could use.
4.3. Coloring 223
KQEA KQEB KQEC KQED KQEE KQEF KQEG KQEH KQEI KQEJ
KQEA x x x x
KQEB x x
KQEC x x x x
KQED x x x x
KQEE x x
KQEF x x x x x
KQEG x x x x
KQEH x x
KQEI x x x
KQEJ x x x x x
KQEA
R
KQEJ KQEB P G
KQEI KQEC B B
KQEH KQED R B
KQEG Y
KQEE G
KQEF G
In the example above, the chromatic number was 5, but this is not a
counterexample to the Four Color Theorem, since the graph representing
the radio stations is not planar. It would be nice to have some quick way
to find the chromatic number of a (possibly non-planar) graph. It turns
out nobody knows whether an efficient algorithm for computing chromatic
numbers exists.
While we might not be able to find the exact chromatic number of graph
easily, we can often give a reasonable range for the chromatic number. In
other words, we can give upper and lower bounds for chromatic number.
This is actually not very difficult: for every graph G, the chromatic number
of G is at least 1 and at most the number of vertices of G.
What? You want better bounds on the chromatic number? Well you are in
luck.
224 4. Graph Theory
Coloring Edges
The chromatic number of a graph tells us about coloring vertices, but we
could also ask about coloring edges. Just like with vertex coloring, we might
insist that edges that are adjacent must be colored differently. Here, we are
4There are special classes of graphs which can be proved to be perfect. One such class is the
set of chordal graphs, which have the property that every cycle in the graph contains a chord—an
edge between two vertices in of the cycle which are not adjacent in the cycle.
4.3. Coloring 225
thinking of two edges as being adjacent if they are incident to the same vertex.
The least number of colors required to properly color the edges of a graph G
is called the chromatic index of G, written χ0(G) .
Example 4.3.6
Six friends decide to spend the afternoon playing chess. Everyone
will play everyone else once. They have plenty of chess sets but
nobody wants to play more than one game at a time. Games will last
an hour (thanks to their handy chess clocks). How many hours will
the tournament last?
Solution. Represent each player with a vertex and put an edge be-
tween two players if they will play each other. In this case, we get the
graph K 6 :
Interestingly, if one of the friends in the above example left, the remaining
5 chess-letes would still need 5 hours: the chromatic index of K 5 is also 5.
In general, what can we say about chromatic index? Certainly χ0(G) ≥
∆(G). But how much higher could it be? Only a little higher.
Theorem 4.3.7 (Vizing’s Theorem). For any graph G, the chromatic index χ0(G)
is either ∆(G) or ∆(G) + 1.
At first this theorem makes it seem like chromatic index might not be
very interesting. However, deciding which case a graph is in is not always
easy. Graphs for which χ0(G) ∆(G) are called class 1, while the others are
called class 2. Bipartite graphs always satisfy χ0(G) ∆(G), so are class 1 (this
was proved by König in 1916, decades before Vizing proved his theorem in
1964). In 1965 Vizing proved that all planar graphs with ∆(G) ≥ 8 are of class
1, but this does not hold for all planar graphs with 2 ≤ ∆(G) ≤ 5. Vizing
conjectured that all planar graphs with ∆(G) 6 or ∆(G) 7 are class 1; the
∆(G) 7 case was proved in 2001 by Sanders and Zhao; the ∆(G) 6 case is
still open.
226 4. Graph Theory
Exercises
1. What is the smallest number of colors you need to properly color the
vertices of K 4,5 ? That is, find the chromatic number of the graph.
2. Draw a graph with chromatic number 6 (i.e., which requires 6 colors to
properly color the vertices). Could your graph be planar? Explain.
3. Find the chromatic number of each of the following graphs.
get the cabin, they need to divide up into some number of cars, and no two
people who dated should be in the same car.
(a) What is the smallest number of cars you need if all the relationships
were strictly heterosexual? Represent an example of such a situation
with a graph. What kind of graph do you get?
(b) Because a number of these friends dated there are also conflicts between
friends of the same gender, listed below. Now what is the smallest
number of conflict-free cars they could take to the cabin?
Friend A B C D E F G H I J
Conflicts with BEJ ADG HJ BF AI DJ B CI EHJ ACFI
5. What is the smallest number of colors that can be used to color the vertices
of a cube so that no two adjacent vertices are colored identically?
6. Prove the chromatic number of any tree is two. Recall, a tree is a connected
graph with no cycles.
(a) Describe a procedure to color the tree below.
(b) The chromatic number of C n is two when n is even. What goes wrong
when n is odd?
(c) Prove that your procedure from part (a) always works for any tree.
(d) Now, prove using induction that every tree has chromatic number 2.
7. Prove the 6-color theorem: every planar graph has chromatic number 6 or
less. Do not assume the 4-color theorem (whose proof is MUCH harder), but
you may assume the fact that every planar graph contains a vertex of degree
at most 5.
8. Not all graphs are perfect. Give an example of a graph with chromatic
number 4 that does not contain a copy of K 4 . That is, there should be no 4
vertices all pairwise adjacent.
228 4. Graph Theory
Investigate!
An Euler path, in a graph or multigraph, is a walk through the graph
which uses every edge exactly once. An Euler circuit is an Euler path
which starts and stops at the same vertex. Our goal is to find a quick
way to check whether a graph (or multigraph) has an Euler path or
circuit.
1. Which of the graphs below have Euler paths? Which have Euler
circuits?
5. Below is part of a graph. Even though you can only see some
of the vertices, can you deduce whether the graph will have an
Euler path or circuit?
This graph is small enough that we could actually check every possible
walk that does not reuse edges, and in doing so convince ourselves that there
is no Euler path (let alone an Euler circuit). On small graphs which do have
an Euler path, it is usually not difficult to find one. Our goal is to find a quick
way to check whether a graph has an Euler path or circuit, even if the graph
is quite large.
One way to guarantee that a graph does not have an Euler circuit is to
include a “spike,” a vertex of degree 1.
a
230 4. Graph Theory
The vertex a has degree 1, and if you try to make an Euler circuit, you see
that you will get stuck at the vertex. It is a dead end. That is, unless you start
there. But then there is no way to return, so there is no hope of finding an
Euler circuit. There is however an Euler path. It starts at the vertex a, then
loops around the triangle. You will end at the vertex of degree 3.
You run into a similar problem whenever you have a vertex of any odd
degree. If you start at such a vertex, you will not be able to end there (after
traversing every edge exactly once). After using one edge to leave the starting
vertex, you will be left with an even number of edges emanating from the
vertex. Half of these could be used for returning to the vertex, the other half
for leaving. So you return, then leave. Return, then leave. The only way to
use up all the edges is to use the last one by leaving the vertex. On the other
hand, if you have a vertex with odd degree that you do not start a path at,
then you will eventually get stuck at that vertex. The path will use pairs of
edges incident to the vertex to arrive and leave again. Eventually all but one
of these edges will be used up, leaving only an edge to arrive by, and none to
leave again.
What all this says is that if a graph has an Euler path and two vertices with
odd degree, then the Euler path must start at one of the odd degree vertices
and end at the other. In such a situation, every other vertex must have an
even degree since we need an equal number of edges to get to those vertices
as to leave them. How could we have an Euler circuit? The graph could not
have any odd degree vertex as an Euler path would have to start there or end
there, but not both. Thus for a graph to have an Euler circuit, all vertices must
have even degree.
The converse is also true: if all the vertices of a graph have even degree,
then the graph has an Euler circuit, and if there are exactly two vertices with
odd degree, the graph has an Euler path. To prove this is a little tricky, but
the basic idea is that you will never get stuck because there is an “outbound”
edge for every “inbound” edge at every vertex. If you try to make an Euler
path and miss some edges, you will always be able to “splice in” a circuit
using the edges you previously missed.
• A graph has an Euler path if and only if there are at most two
vertices with odd degree.
Since the bridges of Königsberg graph has all four vertices with odd
degree, there is no Euler path through the graph. Thus there is no way for
the townspeople to cross every bridge exactly once.
4.4. Euler Paths and Circuits 231
Hamilton Paths
Suppose you wanted to tour Königsberg in such a way where you visit each
land mass (the two islands and both banks) exactly once. This can be done. In
graph theory terms, we are asking whether there is a path which visits every
vertex exactly once. Such a path is called a Hamilton path (or Hamiltonian
path). We could also consider Hamilton cycles, which are Hamliton paths
which start and stop at the same vertex.
Example 4.4.1
Determine whether the graphs below have a Hamilton path.
Solution. The graph on the left has a Hamilton path (many different
ones, actually), as shown here:
The graph on the right does not have a Hamilton path. You would
need to visit each of the “outside” vertices, but as soon as you visit
one, you get stuck. Note that this graph does not have an Euler path,
although there are graphs with Euler paths but no Hamilton paths.
Exercises
1. You and your friends want to tour the southwest by car. You will visit the
nine states below, with the following rather odd rule: you must cross each
232 4. Graph Theory
border between neighboring states exactly once (so, for example, you must
cross the Colorado-Utah border exactly once). Can you do it? If so, does it
matter where you start your road trip? What fact about graph theory solves
this problem?
3. Edward A. Mouse has just finished his brand new house. The floor plan
is shown below:
10.
(a) Suppose a graph has a Hamilton path. What is the maximum number
of vertices of degree one the graph can have? Explain why your answer
is correct.
(b) Find a graph which does not have a Hamilton path even though no
vertex has degree one. Explain why your example works.
(a) Find a Hamilton path. Can your path be extended to a Hamilton cycle?
(b) Is the graph bipartite? If so, how many vertices are in each “part”?
(c) Use your answer to part (b) to prove that the graph has no Hamilton
cycle.
(d) Suppose you have a bipartite graph G in which one part has at least two
more vertices than the other. Prove that G does not have a Hamilton
path.
Investigate!
Given a bipartite graph, a matching is a subset of the edges for which
every vertex belongs to exactly one of the edges. Our goal in this
activity is to discover some criterion for when a bipartite graph has a
matching.
Does the graph below contain a matching? If so, find one.
belongs to exactly one edge of the subset, and no vertex in B belongs to more
than one edge in the subset. In practice we will assume that |A| |B| (the
two sets have the same number of vertices) so this says that every vertex in
the graph belongs to exactly one edge in the matching.5
Some context might make this easier to understand. Think of the vertices
in A as representing students in a class, and the vertices in B as representing
presentation topics. We put an edge from a vertex a ∈ A to a vertex b ∈ B if
student a would like to present on topic b. Of course, some students would
want to present on more than one topic, so their vertex would have degree
greater than 1. As the teacher, you want to assign each student their own
unique topic. Thus you want to find a matching of A: you pick some subset
of the edges so that each student gets matched up with exactly one topic, and
no topic gets matched to two students.6
The question is: when does a bipartite graph contain a matching of A? To
begin to answer this question, consider what could prevent the graph from
containing a matching. This will not necessarily tell us a condition when the
graph does have a matching, but at least it is a start.
One way G could not have a matching is if there is a vertex in A not
adjacent to any vertex in B (so having degree 0). What else? What if two
students both like the same one topic, and no others? Then after assigning
that one topic to the first student, there is nothing left for the second student
to like, so it is very much as if the second student has degree 0. Or what if
three students like only two topics between them. Again, after assigning one
student a topic, we reduce this down to the previous case of two students
liking only one topic. We can continue this way with more and more students.
It should be clear at this point that if there is every a group of n students
who as a group like n − 1 or fewer topics, then no matching is possible. This
is true for any value of n, and any group of n students.
To make this more graph-theoretic, say you have a set S ⊆ A of vertices.
Define N(S) to be the set of all the neighbors of vertices in S. That is, N(S)
contains all the vertices (in B) which are adjacent to at least one of the vertices
in S. (In the student/topic graph, N(S) is the set of topics liked by the students
of S.) Our discussion above can be summarized as follows:
5Note: what we are calling a matching is sometimes called a perfect matching or complete
matching. This is because in it interesting to look at non-perfect matchings as well. We will call
those partial matchings.
6The standard example for matchings used to be the marriage problem in which A consisted
of the men in the town, B the women, and an edge represented a marriage that was agreeable
to both parties. A matching then represented a way for the town elders to marry off everyone
in the town, no polygamy allowed. We have chosen a more progressive context for the sake of
political correctness.
236 4. Graph Theory
Matching Condition
|N(S)| ≥ |S|
for all S ⊆ A.
7This happens often in graph theory. If you can avoid the obvious counterexamples, you
often get what you want.
8There is also an infinite version of the theorem which was proved by Marshal Hall, Jr. The
name is a coincidence though as the two Halls are not related.
4.5. Matching in Bipartite Graphs 237
Exercises
1. Find a matching of the bipartite graphs below or explain why no matching
exists.
2. A bipartite graph that doesn’t have a matching might still have a partial
matching. By this we mean a set of edges for which no vertex belongs to more
than one edge (but possibly belongs to none). Every bipartite graph (with at
least one edge) has a partial matching, so we can look for the largest partial
matching in a graph.
Your “friend” claims that she has found the largest partial matching for the
graph below (her matching is in bold). She explains that no other edge can be
added, because all the edges not used in her partial matching are connected
to matched vertices. Is she correct?
3. One way you might check to see whether a partial matching is maximal is
to construct an alternating path. This is a sequence of adjacent edges, which
alternate between edges in the matching and edges not in the matching (no
edge can be used more than once). If an alternating path starts and stops
with an edge not in the matching, then it is called an augmenting path.
(a) Find the largest possible alternating path for the partial matching of
your friend’s graph. Is it an augmenting path? How would this help
you find a larger matching?
238 4. Graph Theory
(b) Find the largest possible alternating path for the partial matching below.
Are there any augmenting paths? Is the partial matching the largest one
that exists in the graph?
4. The two richest families in Westeros have decided to enter into an alliance
by marriage. The first family has 10 sons, the second has 10 girls. The ages
of the kids in the two families match up. To avoid impropriety, the families
insist that each child must marry someone either their own age, or someone
one position younger or older. In fact, the graph representing agreeable
marriages looks like this:
Since V itself is a vertex cover, every graph has a vertex cover. The interesting
question is about finding a minimal vertex cover, one that uses the fewest
possible number of vertices.
(a) Suppose you had a matching of a graph. How can you use that to get a
minimal vertex cover? Will your method always work?
(b) Suppose you had a minimal vertex cover for a graph. How can you use
that to get a partial matching? Will your method always work?
(c) What is the relationship between the size of the minimal vertex cover
and the size of the maximal partial matching in a graph?
Chapter Review
1. Which (if any) of the graphs below are the same? Which are different?
Explain.
2. Which of the graphs in the previous question contain Euler paths or cir-
cuits? Which of the graphs are planar?
3. Draw a graph which has an Euler circuit but is not planar.
4. Draw a graph which does not have an Euler path and is also not planar.
5. If a graph has 10 vertices and 10 edges and contains an Euler circuit, must
it be planar? How many faces would it have?
6. Suppose G is a graph with n vertices, each having degree 5.
(a) For which values of n does this make sense?
(b) For which values of n does the graph have an Euler path?
(c) What is the smallest value of n for which the graph might be planar?
(tricky)
7. At a school dance, 6 girls and 4 boys take turns dancing (as couples) with
each other.
4.6. Chapter Summary 241
(a) How many couples danced if every girl dances with every boy?
(b) How many couples danced if everyone danced with everyone else (re-
gardless of gender)?
(c) Explain what graphs can be used to represent these situations.
16. If a planar graph G with 7 vertices divides the plane into 8 regions, how
many edges must G have?
242 4. Graph Theory
18. For each part below, say whether the statement is true or false. Explain
why the true statements are true, and give counterexamples for the false
statements.
(a) Every bipartite graph is planar.
(b) Every bipartite graph has chromatic number 2.
(c) Every bipartite graph has an Euler path.
(d) Every vertex of a bipartite graph has even degree.
(e) A graph is bipartite if and only if the sum of the degrees of all the vertices
is even.
19. Consider the statement “If a graph is planar, then it has an Euler path.”
(a) Write the converse of the statement.
(b) Write the contrapositive of the statement.
(c) Write the negation of the statement.
(d) Is it possible for the contrapositive to be false? If it was, what would that
tell you?
(e) Is the original statement true or false? Prove your answer.
(f) Is the converse of the statement true or false? Prove your answer.
(c) Prove your conjecture from part (a) by induction on the number of ver-
tices. Hint: For the inductive step, you will assume that your conjecture
is true for all trees with k vertices, and show it is also true for an arbitrary
tree with k + 1 vertices. Consider what happens when you cut off a leaf
and then let it regrow.
244 4. Graph Theory
Chapter 5
Additional Topics
1
3, 0, 8, 1, , 100, . . .
7
245
246 5. Additional Topics
Now you might very naturally ask why we would do such a thing. One
reason is that encoding a sequence with a power series helps us keep track of
which term is which in the sequence. For example, if we write the sequence
1, 3, 4, 6, 9, . . . , 24, 41, . . . it is impossible to determine which term 24 is (even if
we agreed that the first term was supposed to be a 0 ). However, if we wrote the
generating series instead, we would have 1 + 3x + 4x 2 + 6x 3 + 9x 4 + · · · + 24x 17 +
41x 18 + · · ·. Now it is clear that 24 is the 17th term of the sequence (that is,
a17 24). Of course to get this benefit we could have displayed our sequence
in any number of ways, perhaps 1 0 3 1 4 2 6 3 9 4 · · · 24 17 41 18 · · ·, but we
do not do this. The reason is that the generating series looks like an ordinary
power series (although we are interpreting it differently) so we can do things
with it that we ordinarily do with power series such as write down what it
converges to.
2
For example, from calculus we know that the power series 1 + x + x2 +
3 4
6 + 24 + · · · + n! + · · · converges to the function e . So we can use e as a way
x x x n
x x
of talking about the sequence of coefficients of the power series for e x . When
we write down a nice compact function which has an infinite power series
that we view as a generating series, then we call that function a generating
function. In this example, we would say
1 1 1 1
1, 1, , , , . . . , , . . . has generating function e x
2 6 24 n!
S 1 + x + x2 + x3 + · · ·
−xS x + x2 + x3 + x4 + · · ·
(1 − x)S 1
5.1. Generating Functions 247
1, 1, 1, . . .
1
The generating function for 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, . . . is
1−x
Let’s use this basic generating function to find generating functions for
more sequences. What if we replace x by −x. We get
1
1 − x + x 2 − x 3 + · · · which generates 1, −1, 1, −1, . . .
1+x
If we replace x by 3x we get
1
1 + 3x + 9x 2 + 27x 3 + · · · which generates 1, 3, 9, 27, . . .
1 − 3x
1
By replacing the x in 1−x we can get generating functions for a variety
of sequences, but not all. For example, you cannot plug in anything for x
to get the generating function for 2, 2, 2, 2, . . .. However, we are not lost yet.
Notice that each term of 2, 2, 2, 2, . . . is the result of multiplying the terms of
1, 1, 1, 1, . . . by the constant 2. So multiply the generating function by 2 as
well.
2
2 + 2x + 2x 2 + 2x 3 + · · · which generates 2, 2, 2, 2, . . .
1−x
Similarly, to find the generating function for the sequence 3, 9, 27, 81, . . .,
we note that this sequence is the result of multiplying each term of 1, 3, 9, 27, . . .
by 3. Since we have the generating function for 1, 3, 9, 27, . . . we can say
3
3 · 1 + 3 · 3x + 3 · 9x 2 + 3 · 27x 3 + · · · which generates 3, 9, 27, 81, . . .
1 − 3x
What about the sequence 2, 4, 10, 28, 82, . . .? Here the terms are always
1 more than powers of 3. That is, we have added the sequences 1, 1, 1, 1, . . .
and 1, 3, 9, 27, . . . term by term. Therefore we can get a generating function
by adding the respective generating functions:
1 + x + x 2 + x 3 + · · · + 1 + 3x + 9x 2 + 27x 3 + · · ·
1 1
+
1 − x 1 − 3x
The fun does not stop there: if we replace x in our original generating
function by x 2 we get
1
1 + x 2 + x 4 + x 6 · · · which generates 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, . . . .
1 − x2
How could we get 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, . . .? Start with the previous sequence and
shift it over by 1. But how do you do this? To see how shifting works, let’s
first try to get the generating function for the sequence 0, 1, 3, 9, 27, . . .. We
1
know that 1−3x 1 + 3x + 9x 2 + 27x 3 + · · ·. To get the zero out front, we need
the generating series to look like x + 3x 2 + 9x 3 + 27x 4 + · · · (so there is no
constant term). Multiplying by x has this effect. So the generating function
for 0, 1, 3, 9, 27, . . . is 1−3x
x
. This will also work to get the generating function
for 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, . . .:
x
x + x 3 + x 5 + · · · which generates 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1 . . .
1 − x2
What if we add the sequences 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, . . . and 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, . . . term
by term? We should get 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 . . .. What happens when we add the
generating functions? It works (try it)!
1 x 1
+ .
1 − x2 1 − x2 1−x
1
Here’s a sneaky one: what happens if you take the derivative of 1−x ? We
1
get (1−x)2 . On the other hand, if we differentiate term by term in the power
series, we get (1 + x + x 2 + x 3 + · · · )0 1 + 2x + 3x 2 + 4x 3 + · · · which is the
generating series for 1, 2, 3, 4, . . .. This says
1, 2, 3, . . .
1
The generating function for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . . is .
(1 − x)2
2 1
Take a second derivative: (1−x)3
2 + 6x + 12x 2 + 20x 3 + · · ·. So (1−x)3
1 + 3x + 6x 2 + 10x 3
+ · · · is a generating function for the triangular numbers,
1, 3, 6, 10 . . . (although here we have a 0 1 while T0 0 usually).
Differencing
1
We have seen how to find generating functions from 1−x using multiplication
(by a constant or by x), substitution, addition, and differentiation. To use
5.1. Generating Functions 249
Example 5.1.2
Find a generating function for 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, . . ..
Solution. Notice that the sequence of differences is constant. We
know how to find the generating function for any constant sequence.
So denote the generating function for 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, . . . by A. We have
A 1 + 3x + 5x 2 + 7x 3 + 9x 4 + · · ·
−xA 0 + x + 3x 2 + 5x 3 + 7x 4 + 9x 5 + · · ·
(1 − x)A 1 + 2x + 2x 2 + 2x 3 + 2x 4 + · · ·
2x
We know that 2x + 2x 2 + 2x 3 + 2x 4 + · · · . Thus
1−x
2x
(1 − x)A 1 + .
1−x
250 5. Additional Topics
over, putting the zero out front, and doubles each term). If we add
these term by term, we get the correct sequence 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, . . ..
Now that we have a generating function for the odd numbers, we can use
that to find the generating function for the squares:
Example 5.1.3
Find the generating function for 1, 4, 9, 16, . . .. Note we take 1 a0 .
Solution. Again we call the generating function for the sequence A.
Using differencing:
A 1 + 4x + 9x 2 + 16x 3 + · · ·
−xA 0 + x + 4x 2 + 9x 3 + 16x 4 + · · ·
(1 − x)A 1 + 3x + 5x 2 + 7x 3 + · · ·
1+x 1+x
Since 1 + 3x + 5x 2 + 7x 3 + · · · we have A .
(1 − x)2 (1 − x)3
Example 5.1.4
The sequence 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, . . . satisfies the recurrence relation a n
3a n−1 − 2a n−2 . Find the generating function for the sequence.
Solution. Call the generating function for the sequence A. We have
A 1 + 3x + 7x 2 + 15x 3 + 31x 4 + · · · + a n x n + · · ·
5.1. Generating Functions 251
1
A .
1 − 3x + 2x 2
Example 5.1.5
“Multiply” the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . by the sequence 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . ..
Solution. The new constant term is just 1 · 1. The next term will be
1 · 2 + 2 · 1 4. The next term: 1 · 4 + 2 · 2 + 3 · 1 11. One more:
1 · 8 + 2 · 4 + 3 · 2 + 4 · 1 28. The resulting sequence is
1 a b
+ for some constants and .
(1 − x)(1 − 2x) 1 − x 1 − 2x
5.1. Generating Functions 253
1 −1 2
+ .
(1 − x)(1 − 2x) 1 − x 1 − 2x
−1
−1−x−x 2 −x 3 −x 4 −· · · which generates −1, −1, −1, −1, −1, . . . .
1−x
2
2+4x+8x 2 +16x 3 +32x 4 +· · · which generates 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, . . . .
1 − 2x
We can give a closed formula for the nth term of each of these se-
quences. The first is just a n −1. The second is a n 2n+1 . The
sequence we are interested in is just the sum of these, so the solution
to the recurrence relation is
a n 2n+1 − 1
We can now add generating functions to our list of methods for solving
recurrence relations.
Exercises
1. Find the generating function for each of the following sequences by relating
them back to a sequence with known generating function.
(a) 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, . . ..
(b) 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, . . ..
(c) 0, 0, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, . . ..
(d) 1, 5, 25, 125, . . ..
(e) 1, −3, 9, −27, 81, . . ..
(f) 1, 0, 5, 0, 25, 0, 125, 0, . . ..
(g) 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 5, . . ..
254 5. Additional Topics
3. Show how you can get the generating function for the triangular numbers
in three different ways:
(a) Take two derivatives of the generating function for 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, . . .
(b) Use differencing.
(c) Multiply two known generating functions.
4. Use differencing to find the generating function for 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 19, 25, . . ..
5. Find a generating function for the sequence with recurrence relation a n
3a n−1 − a n−2 with initial terms a0 1 and a1 5.
6. Use the recurrence relation for the Fibonacci numbers to find the generat-
ing function for the Fibonacci sequence.
7. Use multiplication to find the generating function for the sequence of
partial sums of Fibonacci numbers, S0 , S1 , S2 , . . . where S0 F0 , S1 F0 + F1 ,
S2 F0 + F1 + F2 , S3 F0 + F1 + F2 + F3 and so on.
8. Find the generating function for the sequence with closed formula a n
2(5n ) + 7(−3)n .
9. Find a closed formula for the nth term of the sequence with generating
3x 1
function + .
1 − 4x 1 − x
2 x
10. Find a7 for the sequence with generating function · .
(1 − x) 1 − x − x 2
2
1
11. Explain how we know that is the generating function for 1, 2, 3, 4, . . ..
(1 − x)2
12. Starting with the generating function for 1, 2, 3, 4, . . ., find a generating
function for each of the following sequences.
(a) 1, 0, 2, 0, 3, 0, 4, . . ..
(b) 1, −2, 3, −4, 5, −6, . . ..
5.2. Introduction to Number Theory 255
1
13. You may assume that 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, . . . has generating function
1 − x − x2
(because it does). Use this fact to find the sequence generated by each of the
following generating functions.
x2
(a) 1−x−x 2
.
1
(b) 1−x 2 −x 4
.
1
(c) 1−3x−9x 2
.
1
(d) (1−x−x 2 )(1−x)
.
14. Find the generating function for the sequence 1, −2, 4, −8, 16, . . ..
15. Find the generating function for the sequence 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, . . ..
16. Suppose A is the generating function for the sequence 3, 5, 9, 15, 23, 33, . . ..
(a) Find a generating function (in terms of A) for the sequence of differences
between terms.
(b) Write the sequence of differences between terms and find a generating
function for it (without referencing A).
(c) Use your answers to parts (a) and (b) to find the generating function for
the original sequence.
We were able to prove that any amount greater than 27 cents could be made.
You might wonder what would happen if we changed the denomination of
the stamps. What if we instead had 4- and 9-cent stamps? Would there be
some amount after which all amounts would be possible? Well, again, we
could replace two 4-cent stamps with a 9-cent stamp, or three 9-cent stamps
with seven 4-cent stamps. In each case we can create one more cent of postage.
Using this as the inductive case would allow us to prove that any amount of
postage greater than 23 cents can be made.
What if we had 2-cent and 4-cent stamps. Here it looks less promising. If
we take some number of 2-cent stamps and some number of 4-cent stamps,
what can we say about the total? Could it ever be odd? Doesn’t look like it.
Why does 5 and 8 work, 4 and 9 work, but 2 and 4 not work? What is it
about these numbers? If I gave you a pair of numbers, could you tell me right
away if they would work or not? We will answer these questions, and more,
after first investigating some simpler properties of numbers themselves.
Divisibility
It is easy to add and multiply natural numbers. If we extend our focus to all
integers, then subtraction is also easy (we need the negative numbers so we
can subtract any number from any other number, even larger from smaller).
Division is the first operation that presents a challenge. If we wanted to extend
our set of numbers so any division would be possible (maybe excluding
division by 0) we would need to look at the rational numbers (the set of all
numbers which can be written as fractions). This would be going too far, so
we will refuse this option.
In fact, it is a good thing that not every number can be divided by other
numbers. This helps us understand the structure of the natural numbers and
opens the door to many interesting questions and applications.
If given numbers a and b, it is possible that a ÷ b gives a whole number.
In this case, we say that b divides a, in symbols, we write b | a. If this holds,
then b is a divisor or factor of a, and a is a multiple of b. In other words, if
b | a, then a bk for some integer k (this is saying a is some multiple of b).
5.2. Introduction to Number Theory 257
m|n
1. m | n
4. n is a multiple of m.
Example 5.2.1
Decide whether each of the statements below are true or false.
1. 4 | 20
2. 20 | 4
3. 0 | 5
4. 5 | 0
5. 7 | 7
6. 1 | 37
7. −3 | 12
8. 8 | 12
9. 1642 | 136299
Solution.
7. True. Negative numbers work just fine for the divisibility re-
lation. Here 12 −3 · 4. It is also true that 3 | −12 and that
−3 | −12.
8. False. Both 8 and 12 are divisible by 4, but this does not mean
that 12 is divisible by 8.
This last example raises a question: how might one decide whether m | n?
Of course, if you had a trusted calculator, you could ask it for the value of
n ÷ m. If it spits out anything other than an integer, you know m - n. This
seems a little like cheating though: we don’t have division, so should we
really use division to check divisibility?
While we don’t really know how to divide, we do know how to multiply.
We might try multiplying m by larger and larger numbers until we get close
to n. How close? Well, we want to be sure that if we multiply m by the next
larger integer, we go over n.
For example, let’s try this to decide whether 1642 | 136299. Start finding
multiples of 1642:
All of these are well less than 136299. I suppose we can jump ahead a bit:
1642 · 83 136286
Is this the best we can do? How far are we from our desired 136299? If
we subtract, we get 136299 − 136286 13. So we know we cannot go up to
84, that will be too much. In other words, we have found that
136299 83 · 1642 + 13
Since 13 < 1642, we can now safely say that 1642 - 136299.
5.2. Introduction to Number Theory 259
It turns out that the process we went through above can be repeated for
any pair of numbers. We can always write the number a as some multiple of
the number b plus some remainder. We know this because we know about
division with remainder from elementary school. This is just a way of saying it
using multiplication. Due to the procedural nature that can be used to find
the remainder, this fact is usually called the division algorithm:
Given any two integers a and b, we can always find an integer q such
that
a qb + r
where r is an integer satisfying 0 ≤ r < |b|
The idea is that we can always take a large enough multiple of b so that
the remainder r is as small as possible. We do allow the possibility of r 0,
in which case we have b | a.
Remainder Classes
The division algorithm tells us that there are only b possible remainders
when dividing by b. If we fix this divisor, we can group integers by the
remainder. Each group is called a remainder class modulo b (or sometimes
residue class).
Example 5.2.2
Describe the remainder classes modulo 5.
Solution. We want to classify numbers by what their remainder
would be when divided by 5. From the division algorithm, we know
there will be exactly 5 remainder classes, because there are only 5
choices for what r could be (0 ≤ r < 5).
First consider r 0. Here we are looking for all the numbers
divisible by 5 since a 5q + 0. In other words, the multiples of 5. We
get the infinite set
There are three more to go. The remainder classes for 2, 3, and 4
are, respectively
Note that in the example above, every integer is in exactly one remainder
class. The technical way to say this is that the remainder classes modulo b
form a partition of the integers.1 The most important fact about partitions, is
that it is possible to define an equivalence relation from a partition: this is a
relationship between pairs of numbers which acts in all the important ways
like the “equals” relationship.2
All fun technical language aside, the idea is really simple. If two numbers
belong to the same remainder class, then in some way, they are the same.
That is, they are the same up to division by b. In the case where b 5 above,
the numbers 8 and 23, while not the same number, are the same when it
comes to dividing by 5, because both have remainder 3.
It matters what the divisor is: 8 and 23 are the same up to division by 5,
but not up to division by 7, since 8 has remainder of 1 when divided by 7
while 23 has a remainder of 2.
With all this in mind, let’s introduce some notation. We want to say that
8 and 23 are basically the same, even though they are not equal. It would be
wrong to say 8 23. Instead, we write 8 ≡ 23. But this is not always true. It
works if we are thinking division by 5, so we need to denote that somehow.
What we will actually write is this:
8 ≡ 23 (mod 5)
8 . 23 (mod 7)
1It is possible to develop a mathematical theory of partitions, prove statements about all
partitions in general and then apply those observations to our case here.
2Again, there is a mathematical theory of equivalence relations which applies in many more
instances than the one we look at here.
5.2. Introduction to Number Theory 261
Congruence Modulo n
a≡b (mod n)
a q1 n + r b q2 n + r
Here the two r’s really are the same. Consider what we get when we take
the difference of a and b:
a − b q 1 n + r − (q2 n + r) q1 n − q 2 n (q 1 − q 2 )n
So a − b is a multiple of n, or equivalently, n | a − b.
On the other hand, if we assume first that n | a − b, so a − b kn, then
consider what happens if we divide each term by n. Dividing a by n will
leave some remainder, as will dividing b by n. However, dividing kn by n
will leave 0 remainder. So the remainders on the left-hand side must cancel
out. That is, the remainders must be the same.
Thus we have:
Congruence and Divisibility
It will also be useful to switch back and forth between congruences and
regular equations. The above fact helps with this. We know that a ≡ b
(mod n) if and only if n | a − b, if and only if a − b kn for some integer k.
Rearranging that equation, we get a b + kn. In other words, if a and b are
congruent modulo n, then a is b more than some multiple of n. This conforms
with our earlier observation that all the numbers in a particular remainder
class are the same amount larger than the multiples of n.
262 5. Additional Topics
Properties of Congruence
We said earlier that congruence modulo n behaves, in many important ways,
the same way equality does. Specifically, we could prove that congruence
modulo n is an equivalence relation, which would require checking the follow-
ing three facts:
Given any integers a, b, and c, and any positive integer n, the following
hold:
1. a ≡ a (mod n).
You should take a minute to convince yourself that each of the proper-
ties above actually hold of congruence. Try explaining each using both the
remainder and divisibility definitions.
Next, consider how congruence behaves when doing basic arithmetic. We
already know that if you subtract two congruent numbers, the result will be
congruent to 0 (be a multiple of n). What if we add something congruent
to 1 to something congruent to 2? Will we get something congruent to
3?
Congruence and Arithmetic
1. a + c ≡ b + d (mod n).
2. a − c ≡ b − d (mod n).
3. ac ≡ bd (mod n).
5.2. Introduction to Number Theory 263
The above facts might be written a little strangely, but the idea is simple.
If we have a true congruence, and we add the same thing to both sides, the
result is still a true congruence. This sounds like we are saying:
Of course this is true as well, it is the special case where c d. But what
we have works in more generality. Think of congruence as being “basically
equal.” If we have two numbers which are basically equal, and we add
basically the same thing to both sides, the result will be basically equal.
This seems reasonable. Is it really true? Let’s prove the first fact:
a + c b + d + kn + jn.
Next, note that 400 4 · 100, and 100 ≡ 1 (mod 9) (since 9 | 99). So
we can in fact replace the 400 with simply a 4. Again, we are appealing
to our claim that we can replace congruent elements, but we are really
appealing to property 3 about the arithmetic of congruence: we know
100 ≡ 1 (mod 9), so if we multiply both sides by 4, we get 400 ≡ 4
(mod 9).
264 5. Additional Topics
x ≡3+4+0+1 (mod 9)
x ≡ 8 (mod 9).
Therefore 3491 divided by 9 has remainder 8.
The above example should convince you that the well known divisibility
test for 9 is true: the sum of the digits of a number is divisible by 9 if and
only if the original number is divisible by 9. In fact, we now know something
more: any number is congruent to the sum of its digits, modulo 9.3
Let’s try another:
Example 5.2.4
Find the remainder when 3123 is divided by 7.
Solution. Of course, we are working with congruence because we
want to find the smallest positive x such that x ≡ 3123 (mod 7). Now
first write 3123 (33 )41 . We have:
In the above example, we are using the fact that if a ≡ b (mod n), then
ap≡ b p (mod n). This is just applying property 3 a bunch of times.
So far we have seen how to add, subtract and multiply with congruences.
What about division? There is a reason we have waited to discuss it. It turns
out that we cannot simply divide. In other words, even if ad ≡ bd (mod n),
we do not know that a ≡ b (mod n). Consider, for example:
18 ≡ 42 (mod 8).
3 . 7 (mod 8).
3This works for 3 as well, but definitely not for any modulus in general.
5.2. Introduction to Number Theory 265
While this doesn’t work, note that 3 ≡ 7 (mod 4). We cannot divide 8 by
6, but we can divide 8 by the greatest common factor of 8 and 6. Will this
always happen?
Suppose ad ≡ bd (mod n). In other words, we have ad bd + kn for
some integer k. Of course ad is divisible by d, as is bd. So kn must also be
divisible by d. Now if n and d have no common factors (other than 1), then
we must have d | k. But in general, if we try to divide kn by d, we don’t know
that we will get an integer multiple of n. Some of the n might get divided as
well. To be safe, let’s divide as much of n as we can. Take the largest factor
of both d and n, and cancel that out from n. The rest of the factors of d will
come from k, no problem.
We will call the largest factor of both d and n the gcd(d, n), for greatest
common divisor. In our example above, gcd(6, 8) 2 since the greatest divisor
common to 6 and 8 is 2.
Congruence and Division
Example 5.2.5
Simplify the following congruences using division: (a) 24 ≡ 39
(mod 5) and (b) 24 ≡ 39 (mod 15).
Solution. (a) Both 24 and 39 are divisible by 3, and 3 and 5 have no
common factors, so we get
8 ≡ 13 (mod 5).
8 ≡ 13 (mod 5).
Solving Congruences
Now that we have some algebraic rules to govern congruence relations, we
can attempt to solve for an unknown in a congruence. For example, is there
a value of x that satisfies,
3x + 2 ≡ 4 (mod 5),
266 5. Additional Topics
3x ≡ 12 (mod 5).
Example 5.2.6
Solve the following congruences for x.
1. 7x ≡ 12 (mod 13).
Solution.
7x ≡ 12 (mod 13)
7x ≡ 77 (mod 13)
x ≡ 11 (mod 13).
6x ≡ 9 (mod 14).
We could now divide both sides by 3, or try to increase 9 by a
multiple of 14 to get a multiple of 6. If we divide by 3, we get,
2x ≡ 3 (mod 14).
The last congruence above illustrates the way in which congruences might
not have solutions. We could have seen this immediately in fact. Look at the
original congruence:
20x ≡ 23 (mod 14).
If we write this as an equation, we get
20x 23 + 14k,
or equivalently 20x − 14k 23. We can easily see there will be no solution
to this equation in integers. The left-hand side will always be even, but the
right-hand side is odd. A similar problem would occur if the right-hand side
was divisible by any number the left-hand side was not.
So in general, given the congruence
ax ≡ b (mod n),
if a and n are divisible by a number which b is not divisible by, then there
will be no solutions. In fact, we really only need to check one divisor of a
and n: the greatest common divisor. Thus, a more compact way to say this
is:
Congruences with no solutions
Diophantine Equations
Now observe that if there are going to be solutions, then for those values
of x and y, the two sides of the equation must have the same remainder as
each other, no matter what we divide by. In particular, if we divide both sides
by 17, we must get the same remainder. Thus we can safely write
Now at this point we know y 2 + 17k will work for any integer k. If we
haven’t made a mistake, we should be able to plug this back into our original
Diophantine equation to find x:
We have now found all solutions to the Diophantine equation. For each
k, x −1 − 29k and y 2 + 17k will satisfy the equation. We could check this
for a few cases. If k 0, the solution is (−1, 2), and yes, −17 + 2 · 29 41. If
k 3, the solution is (−88, 53). If k −2, we get (57, −32).
To summarize this process, to solve ax + b y c, we,
1. Divide both sides of the equation by gcd(a, b) (if this does not leave the
right-hand side as an integer, there are no solutions). Let’s assume that
ax + b y c has already been reduced in this way.
2. Pick the smaller of a and b (here, assume it is b), and convert to a
congruence modulo b:
ax + b y ≡ c (mod b).
ax ≡ c (mod b).
x n + kb
4. Plug this into the original Diophantine equation, and solve for y.
5. If we want to know solutions in a particular range (for example, 0 ≤
x, y ≤ 20), pick different values of k until you have all required solu-
tions.
Here is another example:
Example 5.2.7
How can you make $6.37 using just 5-cent and 8-cent stamps? What
is the smallest and largest number of stamps you could use?
Solution. First, we need a Diophantine equation. We will work in
numbers of cents. Let x be the number of 5-cent stamps, and y be the
number of 8-cent stamps. We have:
5x + 8y 637.
8y ≡ 367 (mod 5)
3y ≡ 2 (mod 5)
3y ≡ 12 (mod 5)
y ≡ 4 (mod 5).
5.2. Introduction to Number Theory 271
k (x, y) Stamps
Using this method, as long as you can solve linear congruences in one
variable, you can solve linear Diophantine equations of two variables. There
are times though that solving the linear congruence is a lot of work. For
example, suppose you need to solve,
You could keep adding 51 to the right side until you get a multiple of 13:
You would get 57, 108, 159, 210, 261, 312, and 312 is the first of these that is
divisible by 13. This works, but is really too much work. Instead we could
convert back to a Diophantine equation:
13x 6 + 51k
13x 6 + 51(6 + 13 j)
x 24 + 51 j.
Of course you could do this switching back and forth between congru-
ences and Diophantine equations as many times as you like. If you only used
this technique, you would essentially replicate the Euclidean algorithm, a
more standard way to solve Diophantine equations.
Exercises
1. Suppose a, b, and c are integers. Prove that if a | b, then a | bc.
2. Suppose a, b, and c are integers. Prove that if a | b and a | c then a | b + c
and a | b − c.
3. Write out the remainder classes for n 4.
4. Let a, b, c, and n be integers. Prove that if a ≡ b (mod n) and c ≡ d
(mod n), then a − c ≡ b − d (mod n).
5. Find the remainder of 3456 when divided by
(a) 2.
(b) 5.
(c) 7.
(d) 9.
10. You have a 13 oz. bottle and a 20 oz. bottle, with which you wish to
measure exactly 2 oz. However, you have a limited supply of water. If any
water enters either bottle and then gets dumped out, it is gone forever. What
is the least amount of water you can start with and still complete the task?
274 5. Additional Topics
Appendix A
Selected Solutions
0.2 Exercises
0.2.1.
(a) This is not a statement; it does not make sense to say it is true or false.
(b) This is an atomic statement (there are some quantifiers, but no connec-
tives).
(e) This is an atomic statement. Even though there is an “or” in the state-
ment, it would not make sense to consider the two halves of the disjuc-
tion. This is because we quantified over the disjunction. In symbols, we
have ∀x(x > 1 → (P(x) ∨ C(x))). If we drop the quantifier, we are not
left with a statement, since there is a free variable.
(f) This is not a statement, although it certainly looks like one. Remember
that statements must be true or false. If this sentence were true, that
would make it false. If it were false, that would make it true. Examples
like this are rare and usually arise from some sort of self-reference.
0.2.2.
(a) P ∧ Q.
(b) P → ¬Q.
(d) If Jack and Jill did not both pass math, then Jill did.
(a) converse.
275
276 A. Selected Solutions
(b) implication.
(c) neither.
(d) implication.
(e) converse.
(f) converse.
(g) implication.
(h) converse.
(i) converse.
(l) neither.
0.2.7.
0.2.8.
(b) For any x there is a y such that sin(x) y. In other words, every number
x is in the domain of sine.
(c) For every y there is an x such that sin(x) y. In other words, every
number y is in the range of sine (which is false).
(d) For any numbers, if the cubes of two numbers are equal, then the
numbers are equal.
0.2.10.
(a) This says that everything has a square root (every element is the square
of something). This is true of the positive real numbers, and also of
the complex numbers. It is false of the natural numbers though, as for
x 2 there is no natural number y such that y 2 2.
Solutions for Section 0.3 277
(b) This asserts that between every pair of numbers there is some number
strictly between them. This is true of the rationals (and reals) but false
of the integers. If x 1 and y 2, then there is nothing we can take for
z.
(c) Here we are saying that something is between every pair of numbers.
For almost every domain, this is false. In fact, if the domain contains
{1, 2, 3, 4}, then no matter what we take x to be, there will be a pair that
x is not between. However, the set {1, 2, 3} as our domain makes the
statement true. Let x 2. Then no matter what y and z we pick, if
y < z, then 2 is between them.
0.3 Exercises
0.3.1.
(a) A ∩ B {3, 4, 5}.
(b) A ∪ B {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}.
(c) A \ B {1, 2}.
(d) A ∩ (B ∪ C) {1}.
(e) A × C {(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (2, 2), (2, 3), (2, 5), (3, 2), (3, 3), (3, 5), (4, 2),
(4, 3), (4, 5), (5, 2), (5, 3), (5, 5)}
(f) Yes. All three elements of C are also elements of A.
(g) No. There is an element of C, namely the element 2, which is not an
element of B.
0.3.7.
(a) A ∪ B:
A B
278 A. Selected Solutions
(b) (A ∪ B):
A B
(c) A ∩ (B ∪ C):
A B
(d) (A ∩ B) ∪ C:
A B
(e) A ∩ B ∩ C:
A B
(f) (A ∪ B) \ C:
A B
0.3.9.
(a) 34.
(b) 103.
(c) 8.
Solutions for Section 0.4 279
0.4 Exercises
0.4.1. There are 8 different functions. In two-line notation these are:
1 2 3 1 2 3
f f
a a a b b b
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
f f f
a a b a b a b a a
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
f f f
b b a b a b a b b
None of the functions are injective. Exactly 6 of the functions are surjective.
No functions are both (since no functions here are injective).
0.4.2. There are 9 functions: you have a choice of three outputs for f (1), and
for each, you have three choices for the output f (2). Of these functions, 6 are
injective, 0 are surjective, and 0 are both:
1 2 1 2 1 2
f f f
a a b b c c
1 2 1 2 1 2
f f f
a b a c b c
1 2 1 2 1 2
f f f
b a c a c b
0.4.5.
(a) f is injective, but not surjective (since 0, for example, is never an output).
(b) f is injective and surjective. Unlike in the previous question, every
integers is an output (of the integer 4 less than it).
(c) f is injective, but not surjective (10 is not 8 less than a multiple of 5, for
example).
(d) f is not injective, but is surjective. Every integer is an output (of twice
itself, for example) but some integers are outputs of more than one
input: f (5) 3 f (6).
0.4.6.
(a) f is not injective. To prove this, we must simply find two different ele-
ments of the domain which map to the same element of the codomain.
Since f ({1}) 1 and f ({2}) 1, we see that f is not injective.
280 A. Selected Solutions
(b) f is not surjective. The largest subset of A is A itself, and |A| 10. So
no natural number greater than 10 will ever be an output.
(c) f −1 (1) {{1}, {2}, {3}, . . . {10}} (the set of all the singleton subsets of
A).
(d) f −1 (0) {∅}. Note, it would be wrong to write f −1 (0) ∅ - that would
claim that there is no input which has 0 as an output.
(e) f −1 (12) ∅, since there are no subsets of A with cardinality 12.
0.4.7.
(a) f −1 (3) {003, 030, 300, 012, 021, 102, 201, 120, 210, 111}
(b) f −1 (28) ∅ (since the largest sum of three digits is 9 + 9 + 9 27)
(c) Part (a) proves that f is not injective. The output 3 is assigned to 10
different inputs.
(d) Part (b) proves that f is not surjective. There is an element of the
codomain (28) which is not assigned to any inputs.
0.4.8.
(a) | f −1 (3)| ≤ 1. In other words, either f −1 (3) is the emptyset or is a set
containing exactly one element. Injective functions cannot have two
elements from the domain both map to 3.
(b) | f −1 (3)| ≥ 1. In other words, f −1 (3) is a set containing at least one
elements, possibly more. Surjective functions must have something
map to 3.
(c) | f −1 (3)| 1. There is exactly one element from X which gets mapped
to 3, so f −1 (3) is the set containing that one element.
0.4.9. X can really be any set, as long as f (x) 0 or f (x) 1 for every x ∈ X.
For example, X N and f (n) 0 works.
0.4.13.
(a) f is injective.
(b) f is surjective.
0.4.14. Yes, this is a function, if you choose the domain and codomain cor-
rectly. The domain will be the set of students, and the codomain will be the
set of possible grades. The function is almost certainly not injective, because
it is likely that two students will get the same grade. The function might be
surjective – it will be if there is at least one student who gets each grade.
0.4.16. This cannot be a function. If the domain were the set of cards, then it
is not a function because not every card gets dealt to a player. If the domain
were the set of players, it would not be a function because a single player
would get mapped to multiple cards. Since this is not a function, it doesn’t
make sense to say whether it is injective/surjective/bijective.
1.1 Exercises
1.1.1. There are 255 outfits. Use the multiplicative principle.
1.1.2.
(a) 8 ties. Use the additive principle.
(c) 5 · (4 + 3) + 7 42 outfits.
1.1.3.
(a) For example, 16 is the number of choices you have if you want to watch
one movie, either a comedy or horror flick.
(b) For example, 63 is the number of choices you have if you will watch two
movies, first a comedy and then a horror.
1.1.5.
(a) To maximize the number of elements in common between A and B,
make A ⊂ B. This would give |A ∩ B| 10.
(b) 8 · 7 · 6 · 5 · 4 6720 words. After selecting a letter, you have fewer letters
to select for the next one.
(c) 8 · 8 64 words: you need to select the 4th and 5th letters.
(d) 64 + 64 − 0 128 words. There are 64 words which start with “aha”
and another 64 words that end with “bah.” Perhaps we over counted
the words that both start with “aha” and end with “bah”, but since the
words are only 5 letters long, there are no such words.
(e) (8 · 7 · 6 · 5 · 4) − 3 · (5 · 4) 6660 words. All the words minus the bad ones.
The taboo word can be in any of three positions (starting with letter 1,
2, or 3) and for each position we must choose the other two letters (from
the remaining 5 letters).
1.2 Exercises
1.2.1.
(a) 26 64 subsets. We need to select yes/no for each of the six elements.
(b) 23 8 subsets. We need to select yes/no for each of the remaining three
elements.
(c) 26 − 23 56 subsets. There are 8 subsets which do not contain any odd
numbers (select yes/no for each even number).
(d) 3 · 23 24 subsets. First pick the even number. Then say yes or no to
each of the odd numbers.
1.2.2.
6
(a) 4 15 subsets.
3
(b) 1 3 subsets. We need to select 1 of the 3 remaining elements to be in
the subset.
6
(c) 4 15 subsets. All subsets of cardinality 4 must contain at least one
odd number.
3
(d) 1 3 subsets. Select 1 of the 3 even numbers. The remaining three
odd numbers of S must all be in the set.
Solutions for Section 1.3 283
1.2.5.
(a) We can think of each row as a 6-bit string of weight 3 (since of the 6
coins, we require 3 to be pennies). Thus there are 63 20 rows possible.
Each row requires 6 coins, so if we want to make all the rows at the same
time, we will need 120 coins (60 of each).
(b) Now there are 26 64 rows possible, which is also 60 + 61 + 62 + 63 +
6 6 6
4 + 5 + 6 , if you break them up into rows containing 0, 1, 2, etc.
pennies. Thus we need 6 · 64 384 coins (192 of each).
1.2.6. 10 10 10 10 10
6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 386 strings. Count the number of strings
with each permissible number of 1’s separately, then add them up.
1.2.8. To get an x 12 , we must pick 12 of the 15 factors to contribute an x,
leaving the other 3 to contribute a 2. There are 15 ways to select these 12
1212 3
factors. So the term containing an x 12 will be 15
12 x 2 . In other words, the
12 15 3
coefficient of x is 12 2 3640.
1.2.10.
14
(a) 7 3432 paths. The paths all have length 14 (7 steps up and 7 steps
right), we just select which 7 of those 14 should be up.
6 8
(b) 2 5 840 paths. First travel to (5,7), and then continue on to (10,10).
14 6 8
(c) 7 − 2 5 paths. Remove all the paths that you found in part (b).
1.3 Exercises
1.3.1.
10
(a) 3 120 pizzas. We must choose (in no particular order) 3 out of the
10 toppings.
(b) 210 1024 pizzas. Say yes or no to each topping.
(c) P(10, 5) 30240 ways. Assign each of the 5 spots in the left column to
a unique pizza topping.
1.3.2. Despite its name, we are not looking for a combination here. The order
in which the three numbers appears matters. There are P(40, 3) 40 · 39 · 38
different possibilities for the “combination”. This is assuming you cannot
repeat any of the numbers (if you could, the answer would be 403 ).
1.3.5. 72 72 441 quadrilaterals. We must pick two of the seven dots from
the top row and two of the seven dots on the bottom row. However, it does
not make a difference which of the two (on each row) we pick first because
once these four dots are selected, there is exactly one quadrilateral that they
determine.
284 A. Selected Solutions
1.3.6.
(a) 5 squares. You need to skip exactly one dot on the top and on the bottom
to make the side lengths equal. Once you pick a dot on the top, the
other three dots are determined.
7
(b) 2 rectangles. Once you select the two dots on the top, the bottom two
are determined.
(c) This is tricky since you need to worry about running out of space. One
way to count: break into cases by the location of the top left corner.
You get 72 + ( 72 − 1) + ( 72 − 3) + ( 72 − 6) + ( 72 − 10) + ( 72 − 15) 91
parallelograms.
1.3.8. After the first letter (a), we must rearrange the remaining 7 letters.
There are only two letters (s and e), so this
is really just a bit-string question
(think of s as 1 and e as 0). Thus there 72 21 anagrams starting with “a”.
1.3.10.
20 16 12 8 4
(a) 4 4 4 4 4 ways. Pick 4 out of 20 people to be in the first foursome,
then 4 of the remaining 16 for the second foursome, and so on (use the
multiplicative principle to combine).
(b) 5! 15 12 9 6 3
3 3 3 3 ways. First determine the tee time of the 5 board
3
members, then select 3 of the 15 non board members to golf with the
first board member, then 3 of the remaining 12 to golf with the second,
and so on.
1.3.11. 9! (there are 10 people seated around the table, but it does not matter
where King Arthur sits, only who sits to his left, two seats to his left, and so
on).
1.3.12.
(a) 1710 functions. There are 17 choices for the image of each element in
the domain.
(b) P(17, 10) injective functions. There are 17 choices for image of the first
element of the domain, then only 16 choices for the second, and so on.
Solutions for Section 1.4 285
1.4 Exercises
1.4.1.
Proof. Question: How many subsets of size k are there of the set {1, 2, . . . , n}?
Answer 1: You must choose k out of n elements to put in the set, which
can be done in nk ways.
Answer 2: First count the number of k-element subsets of {1, 2, . . . , n}
which contain the number n. We must choose k − 1 of the n − 1 other element
to include in this set. Thus there are n−1k−1 such subsets. We have not yet
counted all the k-element subsets of {1, 2, . . . , n} though. In fact, we have
missed exactly those subsets which do NOT contain n. To form one of these
subsets,
we need to choose k of the other n − 1 elements, so this can be done
in n−1
k ways. Thus the answer to the question is n−1
k−1 + n−1
k .
Since the two answers are both answers tot eh same question, they are
equal, establishing the identity nk n−1
k−1 + k .
n−1
qed
1.4.2.
Proof. Question: How many 2-letter words start with a, b, or c and end with
either y or z?
Answer 1: There are two words that start with a, two that start with b, two
that start with c, for a total of 2 + 2 + 2.
Answer 2: There are three choices for the first letter and two choices for
the second letter, for a total of 3 · 2.
Since the two answers are both answers to the same question, they are
equal. Thus 2 + 2 + 2 3 · 2. qed
1.4.3.
Proof. Question: How many subsets of A 1, 2, 3, . . . , n + 1 contain exactly
two elements?
Answer 1: We must choose 2 elements from n + 1 choices, so there are
n+1
2 subsets.
Answer 2: We break this question down into cases, based on what the
larger of the two elements in the subset is. The larger element can’t be 1, since
we need at least one element smaller than it.
Larger element is 2: there is 1 choice for the smaller element.
Larger element is 3: there are 2 choices for the smaller element.
Larger element is 4: there are 3 choices for the smaller element.
And so on. When the larger element is n + 1, there are n choices for the
smaller element. Since each two element subset must be in exactly one of
these cases, the total number of two element subsets is 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + n.
Answer 1 and answer 2 are both correct answers to the same question, so
they must be equal. Therefore,
n+1
1+2+3+···+ n qed
2
286 A. Selected Solutions
1.4.4.
(a) She has 156 ways to select the 6 bridesmaids, and then for each way,
15
has 6 choices for the maid of honor. Thus she has 6 6 choices.
(b) She has 15 choices for who will be her maid of honor. Then she needs
to select 5 of the remaining 14 friends to be bridesmaids, which she can
do in 145 ways. Thus she has 15 14
5 choices.
(c) We have answered the question (how many wedding parties can the
bride choose from) in two ways. The first way gives the left-hand side
of the identity and the second way gives the right-hand side of the
identity. Therefore the identity holds.
1.4.5.
Proof. Question: You have a large container filled with ping-pong balls, all
with a different number on them. You must select k of the balls, putting two
of them in a jar and the others in a box. How many ways can you do this?
Answer 1: First select 2 of the n balls to put in the jar. Then select k − 2 of
the remaining n − 2 balls to put in the box. The first task can be completed
in n2 different ways, the second task in n−2 k−2 ways. Thus there are 2 k−2
n n−2
ways to select the balls.
Answer 2: First select k balls from the n in the container. Then pick 2 of
the k balls you picked to put in the jar, placing the remaining k − 2 in the box.
The first task can be completed in nk ways, the second task in 2k ways. Thus
1.4.6.
5
(a) After the 1, we need to find a 5-bit string with one 1. There are 1 ways
to do this.
4
(b) 1 strings (we need to pick 1 of the remaining 4 slots to be the second
1).
3
(c) 1 strings.
2
(d) Yes. We still need strings starting with 0001 (there are 1 of these) and
strings starting 00001 (there is only 11 1 of these).
6
(e) 2 strings
1 2 3 4 5 6
+ + + +
1 1 1 1 1 2
Solutions for Section 1.4 287
1.4.7.
(a) 3n strings, since there are 3 choices for each of the n digits.
(b) 1 string,
since all the digits need to be 2’s. However, we might write this
as n0 strings.
(c) There are n1 places to put the non-2 digit. That digit can be either a 0
or a 1, so there are 2 n1 such strings.
(d) We must choose two slots to fill with 0’s or 1’s. There are n2 ways to do
that. Once the slots are picked, we have two choices for the first slot (0
or 1) and two choices for the second slot (0 or 1). So there are a total of
22 n2 such strings.
(e) There are nk ways to pick which slots don’t have the 2’s. Then those
(f) These strings contain just 0’s and 1’s, so they are bit strings. There are
2n bit strings. But keeping with the pattern above, we might write this
as 2n nn strings.
(g) We answer the question of how many length n ternary digit strings
there are in two ways. First, each digit can be one of three choices, so
the total number of strings is 3n . On the other hand, we could break
the question down into cases by how many of the digits are 2’s. If they
areall 2’s, then there are n0 strings. If all but one is a 2, then there are
2 n1 strings. If all but 2 of the digits are 2’s, then there are 22 n2 strings.
We choose 2 of the n digits to be non-2, and then there are 2 choices for
each of those digits. And so on for every possible number of 2’s in the
string. Therefore n0 + 2 n1 + 22 n2 + 23 n3 + · · · + 2n nn 3n .
1.4.8. The word contains 9 letters: 3 “r”s, 2 “a”s and 2 “e”s, along
with an “n”
and a “g”. We could first select the positions for the “r”s in 93 ways, then the
“a”s in 62 ways, the “e”s in 42 ways and then select one of the remaining two
spots to put the “n” (placing the “g” in the last spot). This gives the answer
9 6 4 2 1
.
3 2 2 1 1
9 8 7 5 3
.
1 1 2 2 3
288 A. Selected Solutions
(where the 3 “r”s go in the remaining 3 spots). These two expressions are
equal:
9 6 4 2 1 9 8 7 5 3
.
3 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 3
1.4.9.
Proof. Question: How many k-letter words can you make using n different
letters without repeating any letter?
Answer 1: There are n choices for the first letter, n − 1 choices for the
second letter, n − 2 choices for the third letter, and so on until n − (k − 1)
choices for the kth letter (since k − 1 letters have already been assigned at that
point). The product of these numbers can be written (n−k)! n!
which is P(n, k).
Therefore there are P(n, k) words.
Answer 2: First pick k letters to be in the word from the n choices. This
can be done in nk ways. Now arrange those letters into a word. There are k
choices for the first letter, k − 1 choices for the second, and so on, for a total of
k! arrangements of the k letters. Thus the total number of words is nk k!.
Since the two answers are correct answers to the same question, we have
established that P(n, k) nk k!. qed
1.4.10.
Proof. Question: How many 5-element subsets are there of the set {1, 2, . . . , n+
3}.
Answer 1: We choose 5 out of the n + 3 elements, so n+3 subsets.
5
Answer 2: Break this up into cases by what the “middle” (third smallest)
element of the 5 element subset is. The smallest this could be is a 3. In that
case, we have 22 choices for the numbers below it, and n2 choices for the
numbers above it. Alternatively, the middle number could be a 4. In this case
3
there are 2 choices for the bottom two numbers and n−1 2 choices for the top
two numbers. If the middle number is 5, then there are 42 choices for the
bottom two numbers and n−2 choices for the top two numbers. An so on,
2
all the way up to the largest the middle number could be, which is n + 1. In
that case there are n2 choices for the bottom two numbers and 22 choices for
the top number. Thus the number of 5 element subsets is
2 3 n−1 4 n−2 2
n n
+ + +···+ .
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Since the two answers correctly answer the same question, we have
1.5 Exercises
1.5.1.
10
(a) 5 sets. We must select 5 of the 10 digits to put in the set.
(b) Use stars and bars: each star represents one of the 5 elements of the set,
each bar represents a switch between digits. So there are 5 stars and 9
14
bars, giving us 9 sets.
1.5.2.
(b) This is backwards. We don’t want the stars to represent the kids because
the kids are not identical, but the stars are. Instead we should use 5
stars (for the lollipops) and use 5 bars to switch between the 6 kids. For
example,
∗ ∗ || ∗ ∗ ∗ |||
would represent the outcome with the first kid getting 2 lollipops, the
third kid getting 3, and the rest of the kids getting none.
(d) This doesn’t represent a solution. Each star should represent one of the
6 units that add up to 6, and the bars should switch between the different
variables. We have one too many bars. An example of a correct diagram
would be
∗| ∗ ∗|| ∗ ∗∗,
representing that x1 1, x2 2, x3 0, and x4 3.
1.5.3.
18
(a) 4 ways. Each outcome can be represented by a sequence of 14 stars
and 4 bars.
13
(b) 4 ways. First put one ball in each bin. This leaves 9 stars and 4 bars.
1.5.4.
7
(a) 2 solutions. After each variable gets 1 star for free, we are left with 5
stars and 2 bars.
10
(b) 2 solutions. We have 8 stars and 2 bars.
19
(c) 2 solutions. This problem is equivalent to finding the number of
solutions to x 0 + y 0 + z 0 17 where x 0, y 0 and z 0 are non-negative. (In
fact, we really just do a substitution. Let x x 0 − 3, y y 0 − 3 and
z z 0 − 3).
290 A. Selected Solutions
1.5.5.
(a) There are 75 numbers. We simply choose five of the seven digits and
once chosen put them in increasing order.
(b) This requires stars and bars. Use a star to represent each of the 5 digits
in the number, and use their position relative to the bars to say what
numeral fills that spot. So we will have 5 stars and 6 bars, giving 11 6
numbers.
1.5.11.
20
(a) 4 sodas (order does not matter and repeats are not allowed).
(d) 204 sodas (order matters and repeats are allowed; 20 choices 4 times).
1.6 Exercises
1.6.1.
9
(a) 6 meals.
16
(b) 6 meals.
16
(c) − 71 13 7 10
6 − 2 6 + 3 6
7 7
meals. Use PIE to subtract all the meals
6
in which you get 3 or more of a particular item.
1.6.3. 18 5 11 5 4
1 4 − 2 4 . Subtract all the distributions for which one or
4 −
more bins contain 7 or more balls.
1.6.4. The easiest way to solve this is to instead count the solutions to y1 +
y2 + y3 + y4 7 with 0 ≤ y i ≤ 3. By taking x i y i + 2, each solution to this
new equation corresponds to exactly one solution to the original equation.
Now all the ways to distribute the 7 units to the four y i variables can be
found using stars and bars, specifically 7 stars and 3 bars, so 10 ways. But
3
this includes the ways that one or more y i variables can be assigned more
than 3 units. So subtract, using PIE. We get
10 4 6
− .
3 1 3
the 63 is the number of ways to assign the remaining 3 units to the 4 variables.
Solutions for Section 1.7 291
Note that this is the final answer because it is not possible to have two variables
both get 4 units.
1.6.7. The 9 derangements are: 2143, 2341, 2413, 3142, 3412, 3421, 4123, 4312,
4321.
1.6.8. First pick one of the five elements to be fixed. For each such choice,
derange the remaining four, using the standard advanced PIE formula. We
5
4 4
4 4
get 4! − 3! − 2 2! + 3 1! 4 0! permutations.
1 1 −
1.6.11. There are 5 · 63 functions for which f (1) , a and another 5 · 63 functions
for which f (2) , b. There are 52 · 62 functions for which both f (1) , a and
f (2) , b. So the total number of functions for which f (1) , a or f (2) , b or
both is
5 · 63 + 5 · 63 − 52 · 62 1260.
1.6.12. 510 − 51 410 − 52 310 + 53 210 − 54 110 functions. The 510 is all the
functions from A to B. We subtract those that aren’t surjective. Pick one of
the five elements in B to not have in the range (in 51 ways) and count all those
functions (410 ). But this overcounts the functions where two elements from
B are excluded from the range, so subtract those. And so on, using PIE.
(c) 49 . You have 4 choices for whom to give each present. This is like
making a function from the set of presents to the set of kids.
1.7.2.
14
(a) Neither. 4 paths.
10
(b) 4 bow ties.
(d) Neither. Assuming you will wear each of the 4 ties on just 4 of the 7
days, without repeats: 10
4 P(7, 4).
(g) Neither. Since you could repeat letters: 104 . If no repeats are allowed,
it would be P(10, 4).
(h) Neither. Actually, “k” is the 11th letter of the alphabet, so the answer
is 0. If “k” was among the first 10 letters, there would only be 1 way -
write it down.
9 13
(i) Neither. Either 3 (if every kid gets an apple) or 3 (if appleless kids
are allowed).
10
(j) Neither. Note that this could not be 4 since the 10 things and 4 things
are from different groups. 410 .
10
(k) 4 - don’t be fooled by the “arrange” in there - you are picking 4 out
of 10 spots to put the 1’s.
10
(l) 4 (assuming order is irrelevant).
(n) Neither. 0.
4 10 4 10 4 10
(o) Neither. 410 − [ 1 3 − 2 2 + 3 1 ].
(p) Neither. 10 · 4.
(s) Neither. If all the kids were identical, and you wanted no empty teams, it
would be 10 4 . Instead, this will be the same as the number of surjective
functions from a set of size 11 to a set of size 5.
10
(t) 4 .
10
(u) 4 .
(x) Neither. Since repetition of cookie type is allowed, the answer is 104 .
Without repetition, you would have P(10, 4).
10 9 9
(y) 4 since that is equal to 4 + 3 .
1.7.3.
(a) 28 256 choices. You have two choices for each tie: wear it or don’t.
(b) You have 7 choices for regular ties (the 8 choices less the “no regular
tie” option) and 31 choices for bow ties (32 total minus the “no bow tie”
option). Thus total you have 7 · 31 217 choices.
3 5
(c) 2 3 30 choices.
(d) Select one of the 3 bow ties to go on top. There are then 4 choices for
the next tie, 3 for the tie after that, and so on. Thus 3 · 4! 72 choices.
1.7.4. You own 8 purple bow ties, 3 red bow ties, 3 blue bow ties and 5 green
bow ties. How many ways can you select one of each color bow tie to take
with you on a trip? 8 · 3 · 3 · 5 ways. How many choices do you have for a
single bow tie to wear tomorrow? 8 + 3 + 3 + 5 choices.
1.7.5.
(a) 45 numbers.
(b) 44 · 2 numbers (choose any digits for the first four digits - then pick
either an even or an odd last digit to make the sum even).
1.7.6. 51 passengers.
1.7.7.
(a) 28 strings.
8
(b) 5 strings.
8
(c) 5 strings.
(d) There is a bijection between subsets and bit strings: a 1 means that
element in is the subset, a 0 means that element is not in the subset. To
get a subset of an 8 element set we have a 8-bit string. To make sure the
subset contains exactly 5 elements, there must be 5 1’s, so the weight
must be 5.
13 17
1.7.8. 10 + 8 .
8 5 3
1.7.9. With repeated letters allowed: 5 5 21 words. Without repeats:
8
5 5!P(21, 3) words.
1.7.10.
5 11
(a) 2 6 paths.
294 A. Selected Solutions
16 12 4
(b) 8 − 7 1 paths.
5 11 12 4 5 7 4
(c) 2 6 + 5 3 − 2 3 3 paths.
18 18
1.7.11. 8 8 − 1 routes.
1.7.12. 27 + 27 − 24 strings (using PIE).
7 7 4
1.7.13. 3 + 4 − 1 strings.
6
1.7.14. (a) 6! − 4 · 3! words. (b) 6! − 3 3! words.
1.7.15. 2n
is the number of lattice paths which have length n, since for each
step you can go up or right. Such a path would end along the line x + y n.
So you will end at (0, n), or (1, n − 1) or (2, n − 2) or
. .. or(n, 0). Counting the
paths to each of these points separately, give n0 , n1 , n2 , . . . , nn (each time
choosing which of the n steps to be to the right). These two methods count
the same quantity, so are equal.
1.7.16.
19
(a) 4 ways.
24
(b) 4 ways.
19
5 12 5 5
(c) ways.
4 − 1 4 − 2 4
1.7.17.
(a) 54 + 54 − 53 functions.
(b) 4 · 54 + 5 · 4 · 53 − 4 · 4 · 53 functions.
(c) 5! − [4! + 4! − 3!] functions. Note we use factorials instead of powers
because we are looking for injective functions.
(d) Note that being surjective here is the same as being injective, so we can
start with all 5! injective functions and
subtract
those which have one
or more “fixed point”. We get 5! − 51 4! − 52 3! + 53 2! − 54 1! + 55 0!
functions.
4 4 6 4 6
1.7.18. 46 − 36 − 2 2 + 3 1 .
1
1.7.19.
10
(a) 4combinations. You need to choose 4 of the 10 cookie types. Order
doesn’t matter.
(b) P(10, 4) 10 · 9 · 8 · 7 ways. You are choosing and arranging 4 out of 10
cookies. Order matters now.
21
(c) 9 choices. You must switch between cookie type 9 times as you make
your 12 cookies. The cookies are the stars, the switches between cookie
types are the bars.
Solutions for Section 2.1 295
(d) 1012 choices. You have 10 choices for the “1” cookie, 10 choices for the
“2” cookie, and so on.
(e) 1012 − 10 12 10 12 10 12
1 9 − 2 8 + · · · − 10 0 choices. We must use PIE to
remove all the ways in which one or more cookie type is not selected.
1.7.20.
(a) You are giving your professor 4 types of cookies coming from 10 differ-
ent types of cookies. This does not lend itself well to a function inter-
pretation. We could say that the domain contains the 4 types you will
give your professor and the codomain contains the 10 you can choose
from, but then counting injections would be too much (it doesn’t matter
if you pick type 3 first and type 2 second, or the other way around, just
that you pick those two types).
(b) We want to consider injective functions from the set {most, second most,
second least, least} to the set of 10 cookie types. We want injections
because we cannot pick the same type of cookie to give most and least
of (for example).
(d) The domain should be the 12 shapes, the codomain the 10 types of
cookies. Since we can use the same type for different shapes, we are
interested in counting all functions here.
(e) Here we insist that each type of cookie be given at least once, so now
we are asking for the number of surjections of those functions counted
in the previous part.
2.1 Exercises
2.1.1.
(a) a n n 2 + 1.
(b) a n − 1.
n(n+1)
2
(c) a n + 2.
(n+2)(n+3)
2
2.1.3.
(a) Fn Fn−1 + Fn−2 with F0 0 and F1 1.
296 A. Selected Solutions
(c) F0 + F1 + · · · + Fn Fn+2 − 1.
2.1.4. The sequences all have the same recurrence relation: a n a n−1 +
a n−2 (the same as the Fibonacci numbers). The only difference is the initial
conditions.
2.2 Exercises
2.2.1.
(d) 133
538·133
(e) 2 35777.
(f) b n 1 + .
(4n+6)n
2
2.2.2.
(b) a n 8 + 6n.
(c) 30500. We want 8 + 14 + · · · + 602. Reverse and add to get 100 sums of
610, a total of 61000, which is twice the sum we are looking for.
2.2.3.
(a) 36.
253·36
(b) 2 4554.
2.2.4.
(a) n + 2 terms, since to get 1 using the formula 6n + 7 we must use n −1.
Thus we have n terms, plus the n 0 and n −1 terms.
(c) .
Reverse and add. Each sum gives the constant 6n + 8 and
(6n+8)(n+2)
2
there are n + 2 terms.
Solutions for Section 2.2 297
2.2.5. 68117. If we take a0 5, the terms of the sum are an arithmetic sequence
with closed formula a n 5 + 2n. Then 521 a258 , for a total of 259 terms in
the sum. Reverse and add to get 259 identical 526 terms, which is twice the
total we seek. 526 · 259 68117
21
2.2.6. 5−5·3
−2 . Let the sum be S, and compute S − 3S −2S, which causes
terms except 5 and −5 · 321 to cancel. Then solve for S.
2.2.10. We have 2 2, 7 2 + 5, 15 2 + 5 + 8, 26 2 + 5 + 8 + 11, and so on.
The terms in the sums are given by the arithmetic sequence b n 2 + 3n. In
other words, a n nk0 (2 + 3k). To find the closed formula, we reverse and
Í
107
Õ
(b) (1 + 4(k − 1)).
k1
50
Õ 1
(c) .
k
k1
n
Ö
(d) 2k.
k1
100
Ö k
(e) .
k+1
k1
2.2.13.
100
Õ
(a) (3 + 4k) 7 + 11 + 15 + · · · + 403.
k1
n
Õ
(b) 2k 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + · · · + 2n .
k0
50
Õ 1 1 1 1 1
(c) 1+ + + +···+ .
(k 2 − 1) 3 8 15 2499
k2
100
Ö k2 4 9 16 10000
(d) · · ··· .
(k − 1) 3 8 15
2 9999
k2
298 A. Selected Solutions
n
Ö
(e) (2 + 3k) (2)(5)(8)(11)(14) · · · (2 + 3n).
k0
2.3 Exercises
2.3.1.
(a) Notice that the third differences are constant, so a n an 3 + bn 2 + cn + d.
Use the terms of the sequence to solve for a, b, c, and d to get a n
1 2 3
6 (12 + 11n + 6n + n ).
2a+b
6 4a + 2b
2.3.3. The first differences are 2, 4, 6, 8, . . ., and the second differences are
2, 2, 2, . . .. Thus the original sequence is ∆2 -constant, so can be fit to a
quadratic.
Call the original sequence a n . Consider a n −n 2 . This gives 0, −1, −2, −3, . . ..
That sequence has closed formula 1 − n (starting at n 1) so we have
a n − n 2 1 − n or equivalently a n n 2 − n + 1.
2.3.6. a n−1 (n − 1)2 + 3(n − 1) + 4 n 2 + n + 2. Thus a n − a n−1 2n + 2. Note
that this is linear (arithmetic). We can check that we are correct. The sequence
a n is 4, 8, 14, 22, 32, . . . and the sequence of differences is thus 4, 6, 8, 10, . . .
which agrees with 2n + 2 (if we start at n 1).
2.4 Exercises
2.4.1. 171 and 341. a n a n−1 + 2a n−2 with a0 3 and a1 5. Closed formula:
a n 83 2n + 13 (−1)n . To find this solve the characteristic polynomial, x 2 − x − 2,
to get characteristic roots x 2 and x −1. Then solve the system
3a+b
5 2a − b
a 1 − a 0 21
a 2 − a 1 22
a 3 − a 2 23
Solutions for Section 2.5 299
.. ..
..
a n − a n−1 2n
which sums to a n − a0 2n+1 − 2 (using the multiply-shift-subtract technique
from Section 2.2 for the right-hand side). Substituting a0 5 and solving for
a n completes the solution.
2.4.3. We claim a n 4n works. Plug it in: 4n 3(4n−1 ) + 4(4n−2 ). This works
- just simplify the right-hand side.
2.4.4. By the Characteristic Root Technique. a n 4n + (−1)n .
2.5 Exercises
2.5.1.
Proof. We must prove that 1 + 2 + 22 + 23 + · · · + 2n 2n+1 − 1 for all n ∈ N.
Thus let P(n) be the statement 1 + 2 + 22 + · · · + 2n 2n+1 − 1. We will prove
that P(n) is true for all n ∈ N. First we establish the base case, P(0), which
claims that 1 20+1 − 1. Since 21 − 1 2 − 1 1, we see that P(0) is true. Now
for the inductive case. Assume that P(k) is true for an arbitrary k ∈ N. That
is, 1 + 2 + 22 + · · · + 2k 2k+1 − 1. We must show that P(k + 1) is true (i.e., that
1 + 2 + 22 + · · · + 2k+1 2k+2 − 1). To do this, we start with the left-hand side
of P(k + 1) and work to the right-hand side:
1 + 2 + 22 + · · · + 2k + 2k+1 2k+1 − 1 + 2k+1 by inductive hypothesis
2 · 2k+1 − 1
2k+2 − 1
Thus P(k + 1) is true so by the principle of mathematical induction, P(n)
is true for all n ∈ N. qed
2.5.2.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement “7n − 1 is a multiple of 6.” We will show P(n)
is true for all n ∈ N. First we establish the base case, P(0). Since 70 − 1 0,
and 0 is a multiple of 6, P(0) is true. Now for the inductive case. Assume
P(k) holds for an arbitrary k ∈ N. That is, 7k − 1 is a multiple of 6, or in other
words, 7k − 1 6j for some integer j. Now consider 7k+1 − 1:
7k+1 − 1 7k+1 − 7 + 6 by cleverness: − 1 −7 + 6
7(7k − 1) + 6 factor out a 7 from the first two terms
7(6 j) + 6 by the inductive hypothesis
6(7 j + 1) factor out a 6
Therefore 7k+1 − 1 is a multiple of 6, or in other words, P(k + 1) is true.
Therefore by the principle of mathematical induction, P(n) is true for all
n ∈ N. qed
300 A. Selected Solutions
2.5.3.
2.5.4.
2.5.5.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement 2n < n!. We will show P(n) is true for all
n ≥ 4. First, we check the base case and see that yes, 24 < 4! (as 16 < 24) so
P(4) is true. Now for the inductive case. Assume P(k) is true for an arbitrary
k ≥ 4. That is, 2k < k!. Now consider P(k + 1): 2k+1 < (k + 1)!. To prove this,
we start with the left side and work to the right side.
2k+1 2 · 2k
< 2 · k! by the inductive hypothesis
< (k + 1) · k! since k + 1 > 2
(k + 1)!
Therefore 2k+1 < (k + 1)! so we have established P(k + 1). Thus by the
principle of mathematical induction P(n) is true for all n ≥ 4. qed
Solutions for Section 2.5 301
2.5.10. The only problem is that we never established the base case. Of course,
when n 0, 0 + 3 , 0 + 7.
2.5.11.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement that n + 3 < n + 7. We will prove that P(n)
is true for all n ∈ N. First, note that the base case holds: 0 + 3 < 0 + 7. Now
assume for induction that P(k) is true. That is, k + 3 < k + 7. We must show
that P(k + 1) is true. Now since k + 3 < k + 7, add 1 to both sides. This gives
k + 3 + 1 < k + 7 + 1. Regrouping (k + 1) + 3 < (k + 1) + 7. But this is simply
P(k + 1). Thus by the principle of mathematical induction P(n) is true for all
n ∈ N. qed
2.5.12. The problem here is that while P(0) is true, and while P(k) → P(k + 1)
for some values of k, there is at least one value of k (namely k 99) when that
implication fails. For a valid proof by induction, P(k) → P(k + 1) must be
true for all values of k greater than or equal to the base case.
2.5.13.
2.5.16. The idea is to define the sequence so that a n is less than the distance
between the previous partial sum and 2. That way when you add it into the
next partial sum, the partial sum is still less than 2. You could do this ahead
of time, or use a clever P(n) in the induction proof.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement, “there is a sequence of positive real numbers
a0 , a1 , a2 , . . . , a n such that a0 + a 1 + a2 + · · · + a n < 2.”
Base case: Pick any a 0 < 2.
Inductive case: Assume that a1 + a2 + · · · + a k < 2. Now let a k+1
2−a1 +a 2 +···+a k
2 . Then a 1 + a2 + · · · + a k + a k+1 < 2.
Therefore, by the principle of mathematical induction, P(n) is true for all
n∈N qed
2.5.19. Note, we have already proven this without using induction, but
looking at it inductively sheds light onto the problem (and is fun).
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement “when n people shake hands with each other,
there are a total of 2 handshakes.”
n(n−1)
2(2−1)
Base case: When n 2, there will be one handshake, and 2 1. Thus
P(2) is true.
Inductive case: Assume P(k) is true for arbitrary k ≥ 2 (that the number
of handshakes among k people is 2 . What happens if a k + 1st person
k(k−1)
shows up? How many new handshakes take place? The new person must
shake hands with everyone there, which is k new handshakes. So the total is
now 2 + k 2 , as needed.
k(k−1) (k+1)k
1 1 x k−1 1
x
x k−1 + x+ xk + + k−1 + k
x k−1 x x x x
1 1
x k + k + x k−2 + k−2
x x
1
Note also that x k−2 + x k−2 is an integer by the induction hypothesis, so we
1
can conclude that x + x k is an integer.
k
2.5.23. The idea here is that if we take the logarithm of a n , we can increase n
by 1 if we multiply by another a (inside the logarithm). This results in adding
1 more log(a) to the total.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement log(a n ) n log(a). The base case, P(2) is
true, because log(a 2 ) log(a · a) log(a) + log(a) 2 log(a), by the product
Solutions for Section 2.6 303
rule for logarithms. Now assume, for induction, that P(k) is true. That is,
log(a k ) k log(a). Consider log(a k+1 ). We have
with the last equality due to the inductive hypothesis. But this simplifies to
(k +1) log(a), establishing P(k +1). Therefore by the principle of mathematical
induction, P(n) is true for all n ≥ 2. qed
(a) n + 2 terms.
(b) 4n + 2.
(c) .
(4n+8)(n+2)
2
2.6.3.
2.6.5. a n n 2 + 4n − 1.
2.6.6.
(a) The sequence of partial sums will be a degree 4 polynomial (its sequence
of differences will be the original sequence).
2.6.7.
(b) No, taking differences gives the original sequence back, so the differ-
ences will never be constant.
2.6.8. b n (n + 3)n.
2.6.10.
(b) a n 37 (−2)n + 47 5n .
304 A. Selected Solutions
2.6.11.
(b) a n 16 (−2)n + 56 4n .
2.6.12.
(a) On the first day, your 2 mini bunnies become 2 large bunnies. On day
2, your two large bunnies produce 4 mini bunnies. On day 3, you have
4 mini bunnies (produced by your 2 large bunnies) plus 6 large bunnies
(your original 2 plus the 4 newly matured bunnies). On day 4, you will
have 12 mini bunnies (2 for each of the 6 large bunnies) plus 10 large
bunnies (your previous 6 plus the 4 newly matured). The sequence of
total bunnies is 2, 2, 6, 10, 22, 42 . . . starting with a 0 2 and a1 2.
(c) Using the characteristic root technique, we find a n a2n + b(−1)n , and
we can find a and b to give a n 43 2n + 23 (−1)n .
2.6.13.
(b) Hint: This should be similar to the other sum proofs. The last bit comes
down to adding fractions.
(d) Hint: one 9-cent stamp is 1 more than two 4-cent stamps, and seven
4-cent stamps is 1 more than three 9-cent stamps.
(e) Careful to actually use induction here. The base case: 22 4. The
inductive case: assume (2n)2 is divisible by 4 and consider (2n + 2)2
(2n)2 + 4n + 4. This is divisible by 4 because 4n + 4 clearly is, and by our
inductive hypothesis, so is (2n)2 .
2.6.14. Hint: This is a straight forward induction proof. Note you will need
2 2
to simplify + (n + 1)3 and get .
n(n+1) (n+1)(n+2)
2 2
2.6.15. Hint: there are two base cases P(0) and P(1). Then, for the inductive
case, assume P(k) is true for all k < n. This allows you to assume a n−1 1
and a n−2 1. Apply the recurrence relation.
2.6.16. Note that 1 20 ; this is your base case. Now suppose k can be written
as the sum of distinct powers of 2 for all 1 ≤ k ≤ n. We can then write n as
Solutions for Section 3.1 305
the sum of distinct powers of 2 as follows: subtract the largest power of 2 less
than n from n. That is, write n 2 j + k for the largest possible j. But k is now
less than n, and also less than 2 j , so write k as the sum of distinct powers of 2
(we can do so by the inductive hypothesis). Thus n can be written as the sum
of distinct powers of 2 for all n ≥ 1.
2.6.17. Let P(n) be the statement, “every set containing n elements has 2n
different subsets.” We will show P(n) is true for all n ≥ 1. Base case: Any
set with 1 element {a} has exactly 2 subsets: the empty set and the set itself.
Thus the number of subsets is 2 21 . Thus P(1) is true. Inductive case:
Suppose P(k) is true for some arbitrary k ≥ 1. Thus every set containing
exactly k elements has 2k different subsets. Now consider a set containing
k + 1 elements: A {a 1 , a2 , . . . , a k , a k+1 }. Any subset of A must either contain
a k+1 or not. In other words, a subset of A is just a subset of {a1 , a2 , . . . , a k }
with or without a k+1 . Thus there are 2k subsets of A which contain a k+1 and
another 2k+1 subsets of A which do not contain a k+1 . This gives a total of
2k + 2k 2 · 2k 2k+1 subsets of A. But our choice of A was arbitrary, so this
works for any subset containing k + 1 elements, so P(k + 1) is true. Therefore,
by the principle of mathematical induction, P(n) is true for all n ≥ 1.
3.1 Exercises
3.1.1.
3.1.2.
P Q (P ∨ Q) → (P ∧ Q)
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T
306 A. Selected Solutions
3.1.3.
P Q ¬P ∧ (Q → P)
T T F
T F F
F T F
F F T
(a) P ∧ Q.
(b) (¬P ∨ ¬R) → (Q ∨ ¬R) or, replacing the implication with a disjunction
first: (P ∧ Q) ∨ (Q ∨ ¬R).
3.1.10. The deduction rule is valid. To see this, make a truth table which
contains P ∨ Q and ¬P (and P and Q of course). Look at the truth value of Q
in each of the rows that have P ∨ Q and ¬P true.
3.1.14.
(c) There is a number n for which every other number is strictly greater
than n.
(d) There is a number n which is not between any other two numbers.
3.2 Exercises
3.2.1.
(a) For all integers a and b, if a or b is not even, then a + b is not even.
(b) For all integers a and b, if a and b are even, then a + b is even.
(c) There are numbers a and b such that a + b is even but a and b are not
both even.
Solutions for Section 3.2 307
(f) True. Let a and b be integers. Assume both are even. Then a 2k and
b 2 j for some integers k and j. But then a + b 2k + 2j 2(k + j)
which is even.
3.2.2.
(b) The converse is false. That is, there is an integer n such that 8n is even
but n is odd. For example, consider n 3. Then 8n 24 which is even
but n 3 is odd.
3.2.6.
√ √
Proof. Suppose 3 were rational. Then 3 ba for some integers a and b , 0.
Without loss of generality, assume ba is reduced. Now
a2
3
b2
b23 a2
So a 2 is a multiple of 3. This can only happen if a is a multiple of 3, so a 3k
for some integer k. Then we have
b 2 3 9k 2
b 2 3k 2
So b 2 is a multiple of 3, making b a multiple of 3 as well. But this contradicts
our assumption that ba is in lowest terms.
√
Therefore, 3 is irrational. qed
3.2.11.
(b) We can have 9 dice without any four matching or any four being all
different: three 1’s, three 2’s, three 3’s. We will prove that whenever
you roll 10 dice, you will always get four matching or all being different.
Proof. Suppose you roll 10 dice, but that there are NOT four matching
rolls. This means at most, there are three of any given value. If we only
had three different values, that would be only 9 dice, so there must be
4 different values, giving 4 dice that are all different. qed
7 10 b
a
Equivalently,
7b 10a
But this is impossible as any power of 7 will be odd while any power of
10 will be even. Therefore, log(7) is irrational. qed
3.2.15.
(a) Proof by contradiction. Start of proof: Assume, for the sake of contra-
diction, that there are integers x and y such that x is a prime greater
than 5 and x 6y + 3. End of proof: . . . this is a contradiction, so there
are no such integers.
P Q R ¬P → (Q ∧ R)
T T T T
T T F T
T F T T
T F F T
F T T T
F T F F
F F T F
F F F F
3.3.2. Peter is not tall and Robert is not skinny. You must be in row 6 in the
truth table above.
3.3.3. Yes. To see this, make a truth table for each statement and compare.
3.3.4. Make a truth table that includes all three statements in the argument:
P Q R P→Q P→R P → (Q ∧ R)
T T T T T T
T T F T F F
T F T F T F
T F F F F F
F T T T T T
F T F T T T
F F T T T T
F F F T T T
(a) Negation: The power goes off and the food does not spoil. Converse:
If the food spoils, then the power went off. Contrapositive: If the food
does not spoil, then the power did not go off.
(b) Negation: The door is closed and the light is on. Converse: If the light
is off then the door is closed. Contrapositive: If the light is on then the
door is open.
(d) Negation: There is a natural number n which is prime but not solitary.
Converse: For all natural numbers n, if n is solitary, then n is prime.
Contrapositive: For all natural numbers n, if n is not solitary then n is
not prime.
(f) Negation: There are integers a and b for which a · b is even but a or b is
odd. Converse: For all integers a and b, if a and b are even then ab is
even. Contrapositive: For all integers a and b, if a or b is odd, then ab
is odd.
(g) Negation: There are integers x and y such that for every integer n, x > 0
and nx ≤ y. Converse: For every integer x and every integer y there is
an integer n such that if nx > y then x > 0. Contrapositive: For every
integer x and every integer y there is an integer n such that if nx ≤ y
then x ≤ 0.
(h) Negation: There are real numbers x and y such that x y 0 but x , 0
and y , 0. Converse: For all real numbers x and y, if x 0 or y 0
then x y 0 Contrapositive: For all real numbers x and y, if x , 0 and
y , 0 then x y , 0.
(i) Negation: There is at least one student in Math 228 who does not
understand implications but will still pass the exam. Converse: For
every student in Math 228, if they fail the exam, then they did not
understand implications. Contrapositive: For every student in Math
228, if they pass the exam, then they understood implications.
3.3.6.
(a) The statement is true. If n is an even integer less than or equal to 7, then
the only way it could not be negative is if n was equal to 0, 2, 4, or 6.
(b) There is an integer n such that n is even and n ≤ 7 but n is not negative
and n < {0, 2, 4, 6}. This is false, since the original statement is true.
(c) For all integers n, if n is not negative and n < {0, 2, 4, 6} then n is odd or
n > 7. This is true, since the contrapositive is equivalent to the original
statement (which is true).
3.3.7.
(a) For any number x, if it is the case that adding any number to x gives
that number back, then multiplying any number by x will give 0. This
is true (of the integers or the reals). The “if” part only holds if x 0,
and in that case, anything times x will be 0.
(b) The converse in words is this: for any number x, if everything times
x is zero, then everything added to x gives itself. Or in symbols:
∀x(∀z(x · z 0) → ∀y(x + y y)). The converse is true: the only
number which when multiplied by any other number gives 0 is x 0.
And if x 0, then x + y y.
(c) The contrapositive in words is: for any number x, if there is some
number which when multiplied by x does not give zero, then there is
some number which when added to x does not give that number. In
symbols: ∀x(∃z(x·z , 0) → ∃y(x+y , y)). We know the contrapositive
must be true because the original implication is true.
(d) The negation: there is a number x such that any number added to x
gives the number back again, but there is a number you can multiply
x by and not get 0. In symbols: ∃x(∀y(x + y y) ∧ ∃z(x · z , 0)). Of
course since the original implication is true, the negation is false.
3.3.8.
(g) If the Broncos don’t win the Super Bowl, then they didn’t play in the
Super Bowl. Alternatively, if the Broncos play in the Super Bowl, then
they will win the Super Bowl.
3.3.9.
3.3.10.
(b) The converse is: for all integers n, if 7n is odd, then n is odd. We will
prove this by contrapositive.
3.3.11.
(a) Suppose you only had 5 coins of each denomination. This means you
have 5 pennies, 5 nickels, 5 dimes and 5 quarters. This is a total of 20
coins. But you have more than 20 coins, so you must have more than 5
of at least one type.
22 − 2k − 2j − 2l 2(11 − k − j − l)
But this says that the number of pennies is also even (it is 2 times an
integer). Thus we have established the contrapositive of the statement,
“If you have an odd number of pennies then you have an odd number
of at least one other coin type.”
(c) You need 10 coins. You could have 3 pennies, 3 nickels, and 3 dimes.
The 10th coin must either be a quarter, giving you 4 coins that are all
different, or else a 4th penny, nickel or dime. To prove this, assume you
don’t have 4 coins that are all the same or all different. In particular,
this says that you only have 3 coin types, and each of those types can
only contain 3 coins, for a total of 9 coins, which is less than 10.
Solutions for Section 4.1 313
4.1 Exercises
4.1.1. This is asking for the number of edges in K 10 . Each vertex (person)
has degree (shook hands with) 9 (people). So the sum of the degrees is 90.
However, the degrees count each edge (handshake) twice, so there are 45
edges in the graph. That is how many handshakes took place.
4.1.2. It is possible for everyone to be friends with exactly 2 people. You
could arrange the 5 people in a circle and say that everyone is friends with
the two people on either side of them (so you get the graph C 5 ). However, it
is not possible for everyone to be friends with 3 people. That would lead to a
graph with an odd number of odd degree vertices which is impossible since
the sum of the degrees must be even.
4.1.3. Yes. For example, both graphs below contain 6 vertices, 7 edges, and
have degrees (2,2,2,2,3,3).
4.1.4. The graphs are not equal. For example, graph 1 has an edge {a, b}
but graph 2 does not have that edge. They are isomorphic. One possible
isomorphism is f : G1 → G2 defined by f (a) d, f (b) c, f (c) e, f (d) b,
f (e) a.
4.1.6. Three of the graphs are bipartite. The one which is not is C 7 (second
from the right). To see that the three graphs are bipartite, we can just give the
bipartition into two sets A and B, as labeled below:
B A A
A B
A A
B B B
A B A
A A
A A A A
B
The graph C 7 is not bipartite because it is an odd cycle. You would want
to put every other vertex into the set A, but if you travel clockwise in this
fashion, the last vertex will also be put into the set A, leaving two A vertices
adjacent (which makes it not a bipartition).
4.1.8.
(c) Not possible. If you have a graph with 5 vertices all of degree 4, then
every vertex must be adjacent to every other vertex. This is the graph
K5 .
(d) This is not possible. In fact, there is not even one graph with this
property (such a graph would have 5 · 3/2 7.5 edges).
4.2 Exercises
4.2.1. No. A (connected) planar graph must satisfy Euler’s formula: v−e + f
2. Here v − e + f 6 − 10 + 5 1.
4.2.2. G has 10 edges, since 10 2+2+3+4+4+5
2 . It could be planar, and then it
would have 6 faces, using Euler’s formula: 6 − 10 + f 2 means f 6. To
make sure that it is actually planar though, we would need to draw a graph
with those vertex degrees without edges crossing. This can be done by trial
and error (and is possible).
4.2.3. Say the last polyhedron has n edges, and also n vertices. The total
number of edges the polyhedron has then is (7 · 3 + 4 · 4 + n)/2 (37 + n)/2.
In particular, we know the last face must have an odd number of edges. We
also have that v 11. By Euler’s formula, we have 11 − (37 + n)/2 + 12 2,
and solving for n we get n 5, so the last face is a pentagon.
4.2.5.
Proof. Let P(n) be the statement, “every planar graph containing n edges
satisfies v − n + f 2.” We will show P(n) is true for all n ≥ 0. Base case:
there is only one graph with zero edges, namely a single isolated vertex. In
this case v 1, f 1 and e 0, so Euler’s formula holds. Inductive case:
Suppose P(k) is true for some arbitrary k ≥ 0. Now consider an arbitrary
graph containing k + 1 edges (and v vertices and f faces). No matter what
this graph looks like, we can remove a single edge to get a graph with k edges
which we can apply the inductive hypothesis to. There are two possibilities.
First, the edge we remove might be incident to a degree 1 vertex. In this case,
also remove that vertex. The smaller graph will now satisfy v −1− k + f 2 by
the induction hypothesis (removing the edge and vertex did not reduce the
number of faces). Adding the edge and vertex back gives v − (k + 1) + f 2, as
required. The second case is that the edge we remove is incident to vertices
of degree greater than one. In this case, removing the edge will keep the
Solutions for Section 4.3 315
number of vertices the same but reduce the number of faces by one. So by
the inductive hypothesis we will have v − k + f − 1 2. Adding the edge
back will give v − (k + 1) + f 2 as needed. Therefore, by the principle of
mathematical induction, Euler’s formula holds for all planar graphs. qed
4.2.9.
v−e+ f 2
2e
v−e+ ≥2
3
3v − e ≥ 6
3v − 6 ≥ e. qed
4.3 Exercises
4.3.1. 2, since the graph is bipartite. One color for the top set of vertices,
another color for the bottom set of vertices.
4.3.2. For example, K 6 . If the chromatic number is 6, then the graph is not
planar; the 4-color theorem states that all planar graphs can be colored with
4 or fewer colors.
4.3.3. The chromatic numbers are 2, 3, 4, 5, and 3 respectively from left to
right.
4.3.5. The cube can be represented as a planar graph and colored with two
colors as follows:
R B
B R
R B
B R
4.3.10. If we drew a graph with each letter representing a vertex, and each
edge connecting two letters that were consecutive in the alphabet, we would
have a graph containing two vertices of degree 1 (A and Z) and the remaining
24 vertices all of degree 2 (for example, D would be adjacent to both C and
E). By Brooks’ theorem, this graph has chromatic number at most 2, as that
is the maximal degree in the graph and the graph is not a complete graph or
odd cycle. Thus only two boxes are needed.
4.4 Exercises
4.4.1. This is a question about finding Euler paths. Draw a graph with a
vertex in each state, and connect vertices if their states share a border. Exactly
two vertices will have odd degree: the vertices for Nevada and Utah. Thus
you must start your road trip at in one of those states and end it in the other.
4.4.2.
4.4.9. We are looking for a Hamiltonian cycle, and this graph does have one:
4.5 Exercises
4.5.1. The first and third graphs have a matching, shown in bold (there are
other matchings as well). The middle graph does not have a matching. If you
look at the three circled vertices, you see that they only have two neighbors,
which violates the matching condition |N(S)| ≥ |S| (the three circled vertices
form the set S).
4.6.5. Yes. According to Euler’s formula it would have 2 faces. It does. The
only such graph is C 10 .
4.6.6.
(b) None.
(c) 12. Such a graph would have 5n 2 edges. If the graph is planar, then
n − 5n
2 + f 2 so there would be 4+3n
2 faces. Also, we must have
3 f ≤ 2e, since the graph is simple. So we must have 3 4+3n2 ≤ 5n.
Solving for n gives n ≥ 12.
4.6.7.
(a) There were 24 couples: 6 choices for the girl and 4 choices for the boy.
10
(b) There were 45 couples: 2 since we must choose two of the 10 people
to dance together.
(c) For part (a), we are counting the number of edges in K 4,6 . In part (b) we
count the edges of K 10 .
(a) No. The 9 triangles each contribute 3 edges, and the 6 pentagons
contribute 5 edges. This gives a total of 57, which is exactly twice the
number of edges, since each edge borders exactly 2 faces. But 57 is odd,
so this is impossible.
(b) Now adding up all the edges of all the 16 polygons gives a total of 64,
meaning there would be 32 edges in the polyhedron. We can then use
Euler’s formula v − e + f 2 to deduce that there must be 18 vertices.
(c) If you add up all the vertices from each polygon separately, we get a
total of 64. This is not divisible by 3, so it cannot be that each vertex
belongs to exactly 3 faces. Could they all belong to 4 faces? That would
mean there were 64/4 16 vertices, but we know from Euler’s formula
that there must be 18 vertices. We can write 64 3x + 4y and solve for
x and y (as integers). We get that there must be 10 vertices with degree
4 and 8 with degree 3. (Note the number of faces joined at a vertex is
equal to its degree in graph theoretic terms.)
4.6.10. No. Every polyhedron can be represented as a planar graph, and the
Four Color Theorem says that every planar graph has chromatic number at
most 4.
Solutions for Section 4.6 319
4.6.11. K n,n has n 2 edges. The graph will have an Euler circuit when n is
even. The graph will be planar only when n < 3.
4.6.12. G has 8 edges (since the sum of the degrees is 16). If G is planar, then
it will have 4 faces (since 6 − 8 + 4 2). G does not have an Euler path since
there are more than 2 vertices of odd degree.
4.6.13. 7 colors. Thus K 7 is not planar (by the contrapositive of the Four Color
Theorem).
4.6.14. The chromatic number of K 3,4 is 2, since the graph is bipartite. You
cannot say whether the graph is planar based on this coloring (the converse
of the Four Color Theorem is not true). In fact, the graph is not planar, since
it contains K 3,3 as a subgraph.
4.6.15. For all these questions, we are really coloring the vertices of a graph.
You get the graph by first drawing a planar representation of the polyhedron
and then taking its planar dual: put a vertex in the center of each face
(including the outside) and connect two vertices if their faces share an edge.
(a) Since the planar dual of a dodecahedron contains a 5-wheel, it’s chro-
matic number is at least 4. Alternatively, suppose you could color the
faces using 3 colors without any two adjacent faces colored the same.
Take any face and color it blue. The 5 pentagons bordering this blue
pentagon cannot be colored blue. Color the first one red. Its two neigh-
bors (adjacent to the blue pentagon) get colored green. The remaining
2 cannot be blue or green, but also cannot both be red since they are
adjacent to each other. Thus a 4th color is needed.
(b) The planar dual of the dodecahedron is itself a planar graph. Thus by
the 4-color theorem, it can be colored using only 4 colors without two
adjacent vertices (corresponding to the faces of the polyhedron) being
colored identically.
(c) The cube can be properly 3-colored. Color the “top” and “bottom” red,
the “front” and “back” blue, and the “left” and “right” green.
(a) The graph does have an Euler path, but not an Euler circuit. There are
exactly two vertices with odd degree. The path starts at one and ends
at the other.
(b) The graph is planar. Even though as it is drawn edges cross, it is easy
to redraw it without edges crossing.
(c) The graph is not bipartite (there is an odd cycle), nor complete.
4.6.18.
(a) False. For example, K 3,3 is not planar.
(b) True. The graph is bipartite so it is possible to divide the vertices into
two groups with no edges between vertices in the same group. Thus
we can color all the vertices of one group red and the other group blue.
(c) False. K 3,3 has 6 vertices with degree 3, so contains no Euler path.
(e) False. The sum of the degrees of all vertices is even for all graphs so this
property does not imply that the graph is bipartite.
4.6.19.
(a) If a graph has an Euler path, then it is planar.
(b) If a graph does not have an Euler path, then it is not planar.
(c) There is a graph which is planar and does not have an Euler path.
(d) Yes. In fact, in this case it is because the original statement is false.
5.1 Exercises
5.1.1.
4
(a) .
1−x
2
(b) .
(1 − x)2
2
2x 3
(c) .
(1 − x
1
(d) .
1 − 5x
1
(e) .
1 + 3x
1
(f) .
1 − 5x 2
x
(g) .
(1 − x 3 )2
Solutions for Section 5.1 321
5.1.2.
(a) 0, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, . . ..
5.1.3.
1 2
(a) The second derivative of is which expands to 2 + 6x +
1−x (1 − x)3
12x 2 + 20x 3 + 30x 4 + · · ·. Dividing by 2 gives the generating function for
the triangular numbers.
(b) Compute A − xA and you get 1+2x +3x 2 +4x 3 +· · · which can be written
1
as . Solving for A gives the correct generating function.
(1 − x)2
(c) The triangular numbers are the sum of the first n numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, . . ..
1
To get the sequence of partial sums, we multiply by 1−x . So this gives
the correct generating function again.
1
(b) (1+x)2
.
3x
(c) (1−x)2
.
3x
(d) (1−x)3
. (partial sums).
5.1.13.
(a) 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, . . ..
(b) 1, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 3, 0, 5, 0, 8, 0, . . ..
2x 3 3−4x+3x 2
(c) A (1−x)3
+ 1−x (1−x)3
.
5.2 Exercises
5.2.1.
5.2.2.
Proof. Assume a | b and a | c. This means that b and c are both multiples of a,
so b am and c an for integers m and n. Then b + c am + an a(m + n),
so b + c is a multiple of a, or equivalently, a | b + c. Similarly, b − c am − an
a(m − n), so b − c is a multiple of a, which is to say a | b − c. qed
5.2.4.
a − c b + kn − (d + jn) b − d + (k − j)n.
5.2.5.
5.2.6. For all of these, just plug in all integers between 0 and the modulus to
see which, if any, work.
(a) No solutions.
(b) x 3.
(c) x 2, x 5, x 8.
(d) No solutions.
(e) No solutions.
(f) x 3.
5.2.7.
(b) x 4 + 5k for k ∈ Z.
(d) First reduce each number modulo 9, which can be done by adding up
the digits of the numbers. Answer: x 2 + 9k for k ∈ Z.
5.2.9.
5.2.10. First, solve the Diophantine equation 13x + 20y 2. The general
solution is x −6 − 20k and y 4 + 13k. Now if k 0, this correspond to
filling the 20 oz. bottle 4 times, and emptying the 13 oz. bottle 6 times, which
would require 80 oz. of water. Increasing k would require considerably more
water. Perhaps k −1 would be better? Then we would have x −6+20 14
and y 4 − 13 −11, which describes the solution where we fill the 13 oz.
bottle 14 times, and empty the 20 oz. bottle 11 times. This would require 182
oz. of water. Thus the most efficient procedure is to repeatedly fill the 20 oz
bottle, emptying it into the 13 oz bottle, and discarding full 13 oz. bottles,
which requires 80 oz. of water.
Appendix B
List of Symbols
325
326 B. List of Symbols
327
328 Index